The Ventura College women's and men's cross country teams produced historic performances Saturday at the CCCAA State Championships in Fresno. The women's team finished third overall, the program's best finish in a state-wide championship since 1977, and the best finish since they won the state small school championship in 1983. The men, meanwhile, came in 10th overall, their best team achievement since coming in fifth in 2004.
Marissa Gonzales paced the women with a lifetime best time of 18:46 over the 3.1 mile (5k) course in Fresno's Woodward Park. She finished eighth overall, VC's highest individual finish since Alyssa Robinson came in fifth in 2005. Gonzales earned All-American honors along with Fabiola Flores Gomez, who came in 12th at 19:01, and Macy Schmidt, who ran three seconds behind in 14th place.
Other Pirate women were Tatiana Garcia (29th place, 19:30, 27 team points), Katelynn Byrum (48th, 19:50, 42), Ashley Valdavinos (102nd, 20:51, 78), and Cecilia Cano (121st, 21:21, 92). A total of 161 women finished the race.
The Pirates scored 103 team points, just 10 behind state champion Mt. San Antonio, and eight behind runner-up Cuyamaca. LA Harbor came in fourth (121 points) and Western State Conference foe Glendale finished fifth (147 points).
Under Hall of Fame coach Tuck Mason, the Pirate women finished third in the 1977 all-state championship, and came in third in the state samll-school championships in 1978 and 1979. VC's women won the state small-school title in 1983 with a team that included former Pirate head coach Nancy Fredrickson.
Adan Cruz led the Pirate men with an outstanding run in sixth place overall. He covered the 4-mile course in 20:31 to produce VC's best individual finish since Aaron Torres was fifth in 2003 to All-American honors.
Cruz was followed through the chute by teammates Jacob Hernandez (54th place, 21:35, 48 team points), Evan Pederson (56th, 21:40, 56), Alex Ambriz (71st, 21:46, 63), Dan Thow (138th, 23:01, 114), Juan Martinez (156th, 23:26, 129), and Adrian Orozco (158th, 23;30, 131). A total of 175 men competed in the championships.
VC finished in the Top-10 for the first time in over a decade with 287 team points. Mt. San Antonio won the men's competition with 60 points followed by Riverside (65 points), LA Harbor (136), San Bernardino Valley (156), Hartnell (169), Glendale (175), El Camino (225), American River (268), Santa Ana (279), and VC. Cerritos followed the Pirates with 309 points.
LEFT: VC's three All-Americans: (from left) Macy Schmidt, Marissa Gonzales and Fabiola Flores Gomez. RIGHT: VC All-American Adan Cruz (#5209).