Sophia Godina continued her stellar campaign Friday winning the Western State Conference Cross Country Preview meet in Oxnard. She and Brianna Torres, who finished fifth overall, led the Pirate women to a fifth place team finish. Meanwhile, Adrian Valdez and Erick Tienda ran in fifth and sixth place, respectively, for the VC men as the Pirates came in fourth as a team at the conference preview.
Godina (Rio Mesa) ran the flat 5k course at College Park in Oxnard in 17:38 to win the race by a 6-second margin. Torres (Oxnard) broke the tape in 18:45 for her fifth place finish. Other VC runners included Addy Cornell (Newbury Park Adventist), who ran 22:32 for 31st place, Yesenia Molina (Oxnard) in 34th place with a time of 22:44 and Julianne Caro (Simi Valley), finishing in 58th in 27:24. A total of 65 runners competed in the women's race.
The Pirates earned 118 team points to finish fifth, behind Glendale (56 points), Allan Hancock (77 points), Oxnard (103 points) and Canyons (116). VC came in directly ahead of Moorpark (123 points) in the tight finish for fourth, fifth and sixth.
Valdez (Oxnard) led the Pirate men with his fifth-place finish, running the 4-mile course in 20:39 with Tienda (Rio Mesa) coming in two seconds later. Diego Quezada (Oxnard) was 18th overall with a mark of 21:32 while Ivan Aleman (Rio Mesa) and Kevin Ramirez (Rio Mesa) finished 32nd and 33rd in22:40 and 22:43, respectively. Other Ventrua runners included Colin Crisostomo (Buena) (22:49, 35th), Alexzander Gomez (Oxnard) (22:58, 37th), Carlos Oregel (Oxnard) (23:08, 41st), Aaron Gonzalez (Oxnard) (24:57, 72nd), Oliver Tavira Charco (Rio Mesa) (26:28, 81st) and Andres Diazconti (Oxnard) (29:04, 97th). There were 107 competitors in the men's race.
The Pirates totaled 94 team points to place fourth, 10 points behind Glendale (84) and 21 behind Moorpark (73). Bakersfield won the team competition with an incredible 31 points with five runners in the Top-10. Canyons was fifth, well behind VC.
The Ventura cross country teams next head out for the WSC Championships run at Los Angeles Pierce College and hosted by LA Mission on Friday Oct. 20.