Sophia Godina put a silver crown on her Ventura College cross country career Saturday, claiming a close second at the 3C2A State Championships in Fresno. The sophomore ran the 5k course in Woodward Park in 17:56.06, just 1.29 seconds off the winning mark to win the silver medal in the final event of the season. Godina's effort led the Pirate women to a 15th place state finish as a team while the VC men finished in 16th place against the best teams from around the state.
Godina (Rio Mesa) and her rival from San Diego Mesa went toe to toe for the entire race, with Godina on her heels for most of the time. In an exciting final mile, Godina continued to make moves, but each was answered. The two runners finished in close succession with the third place runner 10 seconds behind.
Brianna Torres (Oxnard) ran 19:16 to finish in 22nd place among the 167 runners to earn 20 team points for the Pirates. Yesenia Molina (Oxnard) was 117th in 21:53 for 90 team points followed by Addy Cornell (Newbury Park Adventist) (143rd, 23:31, 116 points) and Julianne Caro (Simi Valley) (167th, 29:52, 138 points).
Adrian Valdez (Oxnard) capped his cross country career leading the Pirates in 26th place, running the 4-mile course in 21:09. Erick Tienda (Rio Mesa) was close behind in 21:21 to finish in 33rd for 31 team points and Colin Crisostomo (Buena) was 113th in 22:35 for 103 points. Carlos Oregel (Oxnard) was 124th (22:42, 11 points), Ignacio Castro (Rio Mesa) came in 130th (22:48, 115 points) followed by Ivan Aleman (Rio Mesa) (160th, 23:44) and Diego Quezada (Oxnard) (162nd, 23:49). A total of 181 runners competed for the state championship.
With the end of the cross country season, the runners now look forward the track season in the spring. Meanwhile, the VC cross country programs are on solid ground with their third straight season with both teams finishing in the Top 16 in the state under head coach Martin Maciel. The future looks bring for the Pirates.