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Cross Country: OCC women finish second, men place 10th at SoCal Preview Meet
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Friday, October 05, 2007
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ORANGE -- With 35 colleges on hand, the 2007 Southern California Preview Meet/Howard Brubaker Invitational is one of the largest races the state has to offer and for the Orange Coast College women's cross country team, it was a strong measuring stick for what lies ahead.
 Following a grueling practice session the day before, the Pirates had to settle for a second-place team finish at Friday's 5k Irvine Park race as Glendale College finished 11 points ahead of the six-time defending state champs with a score of 40 points.
Despite the runner-up team finish, there was no second fiddle for OCC standout Crystal Reed (pictured left), who topped the 233-runner field en route to a winning time of 18 minutes, 7.8 seconds.
Reed and Glendale's Tove Berg were neck and neck through the first mile before Reed began to distance herself from the rest of the pack and finished 45 seconds ahead of the runner-up Berg (18:52.0).
Other top-10 times for OCC include Tiffany Hannah (7th, 19:49.8) and Cassie Mitchell (8th, 19:50.2), while Ariana Espinoza (17th, 20:31.4) and Senayt Asrat (18th, 20:32.5) round out the top-five for the Pirates.
On the men's side, the Pirates placed 10th overall with 257 points. With three top-10 finishers in the four-mile race, the College of the Canyons won the event with 83 points.
OCC's top-five runners include Brandon Babiracki (34th, 21:36.7), Preston Switzer (36th, 21:39.0), Jorge Torres (58th, 22:00.8), Nathaniel Mouzis (65th, 22:11.4) and Sean Connor (66th, 22:12.2).
Complete results can be found at www.gocollegetrack.com.
Next up for the Pirates is the Santa Barbara Invitational, set for Saturday, Oct. 13.
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