The Ventura College women's cross country team pulled off a mild upset Friday at the Western State Conference Preview Meet in San Dimas. The Pirates won the meet with 46 team points, outdistancing perennial powerhouse Glendale, who finished in second with 51 points. Marissa Gonzales was the first of four VC top-10 finishers in fourth place. The Pirate men, meanwhile, also had a great finish, coming in third place overall, two points behind runner-up Bakersfield. Adan Cruz led Ventura with a sixth-place finish.
Gonzales led a tightly-bunched pack of Pirates at the front of the race. She ran the 5k course at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park in 19:54 for her fourth place finish. Fabiola Flores Gomez came in next for VC (6th, 20:40, 5 team points) followed by Tatiana Garcia (7th, 20:46, 6 pts.), Macy Schmidt (10th, 21:22, 9 pts.), Ashley Valdavinos (23rd, 22:49, 22 pts.), Cecilia Cano (37th, 24:46, 33 pts.), Allison Hermann (41st, 24:59, 37 pts.) and Kiara Estrada (51st, 26:06). The women's 5k had 79 runners compete from 13 teams. 10 teams fielded enough competitors to post a team score.
"We felt at home today on this hilly course," said women's head coach Melody Axtell. "We moved up four places in the preview meet compared to last year and ended up winning. We are excited, and know that the competition is going to get tougher from here on out."
Meanwhile, the Pirates' men's team also had a great race at the WSC Preview. Ventrua came in third place overall with 111 team points, two points behind runner-up Bakersfield and two points ahead of Cuesta. Glendale won the meet in a runaway with 32 points.
Cruz led the Pirate team, covering the 4-mile course in 22:34, good for sixth place overall. Jacob Hernandez (11th, 22:52, 11 team points), Alex Ambriz (18th, 23:19, 17 pts.), Luis Barriga (45th, 24:39, 38 pts.), Ernie Nombrano (46th, 24:48, 39 pts.), Evan Pederson (48th, 24:50, 41 pts.), Adrian Orozco (51st, 25:10, 44 pts.), Dan Thow (52nd, 25:11), Juan Martinez (61st, 26:04), John Chavez (83rd, 28:57) and Axel Mora (93rd, 31:45) rounded out the Pirates' runners. The race included 97 runners representing 13 teams, with 11 fielding a full team.
"The men ran well after a positive week of work," said head coach Tony Veney. "I felt we should have been second today, but Bakersfield, VC and Cuesta were only separated by four points so it was highly competitive. We now have two-and-a-half weeks to train and prepare for a return trip to Bakersfield for the conference finals and a berth in the regional finals."
The Pirate cross country teams will take some time off before hitting the course again in the Western State Conference Championships on Friday Oct. 20 in Bakersfield.