The Pirates' men's and women's cross country teams both earned Top-10 finished as a team Friday at the SoCal Preview meet at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. The men were sixth of the 33 teams running while the women placed ninth of 31 teams. Sophia Godina won the women's race and Brianna Torres came in 12th overall while Erick Tienda paced the men in ninth place and Adrian Valdez came in 19th.
Tienda (Rio Mesa) covered the 4-mile course in 20:25 for his Top-10 finish, less than 30 seconds off the winning pace. Valdez (Oxnard) earned 17 team points for his 19th-place finish in 20:43 and Diego Quezada (Oxnard) was the third Pirate across the finish line in 20:59, good for 31st place and 29 team points. Other VC runners included Ignacio Castro (Rio Mesa) (33rd, 21:08, 31 points), Ivan Aleman (Rio Mesa) (77th, 22:22, 72 points), Carlos Oregel (Oxnard) (114th, 23:04, 94 points), Lorenzo Giron (Rio Mesa) (133rd, 23:39, 107 points), Jamin Wright (Oxnard) (157th, 24:12), Alexzander Gomez (Oxnard) (165th, 24:27) and Kevin Ramirez (Rio Mesa) (180th, 24:58). A total of 263 athletes ran in the men's race.
The Pirates totaled 158 team points, one beh9ind Moorpark's 157 for fifth. Bakersfield won the meet with 59 points followed by San Bernardino Valley (97), Orange Coast (117) and Riverside (146).
Godina (Rio Mesa) had another stellar performance and solidified herself as a state contender with her 23-second win in the regional preview. She covered the 5k trek in 18:03 which also ranks her as the No. 1 runner in the state. Torres (Oxnard) ran the course in 19:15 to finish 12th earning 11 team points and Yesenia Molina (Oxnard) was 45th in 21:22, picking up 37 points. Addy Cornell (Newbury park Adventist) finished 84th (23:11, 68 points) and Julianne Caro (Simi Valley) crossed the finish line in 118th place (25:50, 89 points).
Ventura earned 206 team points for the 12th-place finish behind Saddleback (195) and ahead of San Bernardino Valley (224). Riverside won the women's team championship with 111 points followed by Cerritos (121) and Allan Hancock (141).