The Pirates' men's cross country team ran a season-changing race, placing second of 12 teams at the Western State Conference Preview in Bakersfield Friday. Under cloudless skies and temps running in the high 80's, the men ran in a tight pack of the majority of the 4-mile course for their highest preview finish in seven years. David Torres led the Pirates placing 11th of 114 runners. The women ran shorthanded for the third straight week finishing fifth of 11 teams.
Torres ran in the No. 1 spot for VC for the first time all season, posting a 21:37 mark on the course. He was followed by Alex Ambriz (17th, 21:59), Ronaldo Flores (18th, 21:59), Jose Tamayo (24th, 22:21), Jesse Vasquez (25th, 22:24), Ernie Nombrano (28th, 22:31), Francisco Erazo (35th, 22:47), Christian Gil (47th, 23:22 (forced to recover after being tripped in the first 100 meters of the race)), Nestor Rodriguez (49th, 23:25), and Frank Chavez (78th, 24:48). Glendale won the meet with 17 points, followed by Ventura with 95. They were folloowed by Canyons (102), Moorpark (118), Santa Barbara (164), Santa Monica (176), West LA (180), Cuesta (199), Bakersfield (203), Oxnard (222), Antelope Valley (299), and Citrus (309).
The Pirate women ran short of their full squad for the third straight event as Amanda Wendt and Veronica Lavin were unable to compete. The team placed fifth out of 11 scoring teams with 139 points, trailing Glendale (26), Canyons (73), Cuesta (101), and Moorpark (134). VC finished ahead of Antelope Valley (180), Bakersfield (196), Oxnard (197), Citrus (211), Santa Monica (212), and Allan Hancock (275). Marissa Gonzales was the top Pirate finisher, claiming seventh out of 90 women in a personal 5k best of 19:08. Returning from an illness that has kept her from racing for a month, Macy Schmidt placed 15th in 19:56. Fabiola Gomez-Flores (39th, 21:48, 34 points), Tati Morales (41st, 22:01, 36), Kenna Perez (53rd, 23:18, 47), Michelle Silva (70th, 25:07, 57), and Julia Toscano (84th, 28:56, 68) rounded out the VC scorers.
"The men really stepped up today," commented head coach, Tony Veney.
"We have been preaching the need to run as a pack and to keep the time differential between our first and fifth man under under a minute, and today we were 47 seconds."
"(David) had a nice day as well as all of the young men, exemplified by tight spacing."
"I believe (Amanda and Veronica) would have had an impact on the race outcome (for the women).
"(It was) nice improvement overall by both teams, but we still have a ways to go."
The Pirate Harriers will get a week off as they prepare for the stretch run with a visit to Mount San Antonio College on Friday October 14 for the Mt. SAC Invitational on the horizon. VC will then compete on Friday Oct. 21 at the WSC Championships in Oxnard with the hopes of securing their berth to the Regional Finals Nov. 4 at Irvine Park.
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