The VC men's and women's cross country teams had another strong performance at the Western State Conference preview Friday at Los Angeles Pierce College in Woodland Hills. In the meet hosted by LA Mission College, the Pirate men were fourth of the 10 competing teams led by Adrian Valdez, Ramiro Mateos and Erick Tienda all in the Top-17. Meanwhile Sophia Godina finished third in the women's race to lead Ventura.
Valdez (Oxnard) ran the 4-mile course in 22:47.9 to finish seventh of the 94 runners competing. Mateos (Oxnard) crossed the finish line 18 seconds later to place 12th and Tienda (Rio Mesa) broke the tape in 23:40.6 to come in 17th. Oliver Tavira (Rio Mesa) (26:11.6, 46th place, 36 points) and Zach Lopez (Ventura) (26:54.0, 58th place, 44 pts.) rounded out the Pirate scorers. Jairo Gonzalez (27:26.6, 64th place) also competed in the race for Ventura.
The Pirates totaled 116 points to finish fourth behind Bakersfield (34 pts.), Glendale (51) and Moorpark (62). Santa Monica was fifth with 142 points.
Godina (Rio Mesa) once again led the VC women, who did not compete in the team standings with four runners. She ran the 5k course in 18:58.5 to claim third place overall out of 50 competitors. Brenda Garcia (Buena) ran 14th at 20:07.9 while Addy Cornell finished 20th in 21:10.3. Leslie Cervantes rounded out the Pirate competitors in 44th place with a time of 27:42.9. VC doe expect to be able to field a complete team in the WSC Championships October 21.
The Pirates next race will be at Moorpark on Oct. 21 in the conference finals.