For the second straight season, a Pirate came in first in the annual Ventura Invitational cross country meet at Arroyo Verde Park. Freshman Macy Schmidt covered the difficult 5k course in 20:45 to run away from the field, winning by 33 seconds over her nearest competitor. Marissa Gonzales came in third, helping the VC women to a second place finish as a team. The VC men finished fourth in their race.
In the women's race, Moorpark finished first with 50 points, followed by the Pirates netting 56, Bakersfield (88), Oxnard (94), Long Beach (102), Pasadena (134), and Allan Hancock (159).
Schmidt took over early and was never threatened as she finished first out of 63 racers running. In addition to winning the race by 33 seconds, Schmidt's time bested Jordyn Vassaur's winning mark of 21:46 from last year's invitational on the same course by over a minute.
Gonzales ran well for the second week in a row placing 3rd overall in 21:50 earning two team points, and was followed to the finish by Veronica Lavin (15th, 24:23, 13 points), Fabiola Gomez-Flores (20th, 24:57, 17), Michelle Silva (28th, 26:02, 23), Kenna Perez (29th, 26:03, 24), Tati Morales (31st, 26:23, 25), Amanda Wendt (35th, 26:45), Julia Toscano (50th, 30:35), and Cecilia Garcia (56th, 33:07).
The men finished fourth out of nine teams. They were led by freshman Alex Ambriz, who placed 11th out of 86 runners with a time of 23:31, earning 9 team points. Ronaldo Flores (13th, 23:45, 11), Ernie Nombrano (17th, 24:04, 15), Francisco Erazo (35th, 25:27, 32), Christian Gil (38th, 25:37, 35), David Torres (39th, 25:41, 36), Jose Tamayo (44th, 25:58) and Frank Chavez (47th, 26:08) filled out the Pirate men's team finishers.
Moorpark (69), West Los Angeles (88) and Santa Barbara (89), all finished ahead of the Pirates, who totaled 102 points. Other teams included Oxnard (119), Bakersfield (121), Pasadena (146), Santa Monica (153) and Long Beach (222).
"What a difference a week can make," commented head cross country coach Tony Veney.
"We ran with so much more resolve and purpose today. I was pleased with how focused and determined each young person ran. We took some positives steps today toward our state meet objective, but there is still so much more to accomplish over the next two months."
The cross country teams return to action on Friday September 16 when they travel to Irvine Park for the Southern California Preview. This meet allows schools a chance to review the course they will run on at the November regional championships. The women's 5k will start at 11:00 am and is followed by the men's 4-mile race at noon.