The Pirates' men's and women's cross country teams opened their 2024 seasons Friday hosting the Ventura Invitational at Arroyo Verde Park. Sophomore Brianna Torres, an All-Western State Conference performer a year ago, led the Pirate women with a runner-up finish while newcomer Jonah Sloan led the Ventura men finishing 15th overall. VC's men's team finished third in the team competition among the six competing teams while the women did not run enough athletes for the team standings.
Torres covered the challenging 5k (3.1 mile) course in 20:45, 16 seconds behind the overall winner and 14 seconds ahead of third place. Cali Cornell crossed the finish line in 18th place out of the 31 runners in 26:47 while Yesenia Molina ran a mark of 27:40 to finish in 21st.
DeAnza won the team competition for the women followed by Allan Hancock and Bakersfield. Citrus, Cerro Coso, Fresno and Glendale also fielded runners in the season opener.
Sloan was the first Pirate to finish in the men's race, completing the 4-mile trek in 23:35 to finish 17th out of 65 runners. Kevin Ramirez and Carlos Oregel finished 22nd and 23rd, respectively less than a second apart, posting marks of 23:56.03 and 23:26.83. Nathaniel Lopez crossed the finish line less than four seconds later in 24th with a time of 24:00. Mason Jekogian was 34th in 25:20 while Ivan Aleman posted a 25:32 mark in 36th overall. Other Pirate runners included Eduardo Juarez-Cuevas (38th, 25:41), Luis Jimenez (47th, 28:40) and John Gleason (57th, 32:24).
VC totaled 102 points to tie with Glendale for third place behind Bakersfield (36 points) and DeAnza (47 points). The Pirates were third overall on the strength of the No. 6 runner, Jekogian. Allan Hancock and Citrus rounded out the team competition while Cerro Coso and Fresno also entered runners.
Ventura next will travel to the 3C2A State Championship course in Fresno's Woodward Park on Saturday Sept. 7 for the Fresno Invitational.