CROSS COUNTRY: The Ventura College men's and women's cross country teams made their annual sojourn to Woodward Park for the Fresno Invitational hosted by Fresno City College on Saturday. The teams left with mixed results with the Pirate women finishing eighth of 18 teams while the men struggled to a 15th place team finish. Sophomore Sabrina Sewell led the Pirate charge, finishing 21st individually while freshman Anthony Rivas was a bright spot for the men, finishing in 68th place to lead the team.
The strong finish for the women indicates they have the potential for a return trip to the state meet in December, also at Fresno's Woodward Park. Behind Sewell's strong pace, the Pirate efforts were posted by freshman Brittany Gonzalez, 26th, freshman Maria Canchola, 56th, freshman Brigitte Kiesewetter, 60th, freshman Maria Villalobos, 81st, freshman Alexi Tolosa, 91st, and sophomore Meryem Nafi, 116th.
"We ran over a minute faster in our team time than last year's state qualifying team," said head coach Tony Veney, "But everyone else is getting better too. So we will have to make steady improvements as the season draws out if we want to return to Fresno in three months."
The news was not so bright for the VC men with their low finish. A bright spot continues to be freshman Rivas, who ran in the number position for the second week in a row. Freshman Edwin Herrera, 77th, freshman Alex Miron, 80th, freshman Jaime Luna, 85th, freshman Luis Cruz, 90th, freshman Reggie Quiroz, 102nd, and freshman Thomas Garcia, 106th, rounded out the scorers.
"We have a ways to go in order to rebuild our men's squad, but this group of young men is hard working and provides our program with the right attitude to reset the cross country tradition," said Veney.
Both squads travel east on the 126-freeway to Canyon Country on Friday Sept. 13 for the Southern California Cross Country Preview, hosted by College of the Canyons. The women's race is slated to start at noon with the men to follow at 1:00pm.