Orange Coast College

Cross Country: Pirates blaze fast trails in Fresno

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

FRESNO -- Thanks to a 1-2 finish by Crystal Reed and Cassie Mitchell, the Orange Coast College women's cross country team topped a field of 23 schools at last weekend's Fresno City College Inivitational.

Reed paved the way for the rest of the 198 runners and crossed the finish line first with a time of 18 minutes, 35 seconds. Mitchell wasn't too far behind her sophomore teammate and finished second overall with a time of 18:56.

OCC had five runners finish in the top-15 and won the meet with a team score of 35 points. Cerritos was second overall with 75 points, while Mt. San Antonio (86) placed third.

Freshman Andrea Guerra finished 11th overall with a time of 19:27, while teammates Janina Emery and Margaret McDuffee each came in at 19:33 for 13th and 14th place, respectively.

It was a solid team performance from top to bottom, as every Pirate runner finished in the top-third of the entire field.

Other OCC participants and finishes include freshman Kimone Hewitt (19:47), sophomore Joanna Abarca (19:49), freshman Alexandra DeAvila (19:49), sophomore Heather Cannioto (20:22), and freshmen Meghan Sanchez (20:28), Heather Thomas (20:30), Hillary LaBelle (20:59) and Teri Mitchell (21:13).

On the men's side, OCC placed second among 26 teams with 112 points, trailing only American River (100 points).

Leading the way for the Pirates was freshman Russell Westphal, who finished seventh among 256 runners with a four-mile time of 21:17.

All five runners cracked the top-40 and they include freshmen Sergio Olivarrias (16th, 21:39), Pedro Saucedo (21st, Kirk Hunter (22:00) and Bryan Vaughn (22:10).

Other solid Pirate times include Mason Miller (22:28), Alexis Silvas (22:29), Weston Hall (22:30), Aldo Gordian (22:42), Brian Tran (22:52) and Garrett Fuerte (23:02).

The Pirates return to action on Saturday when they host their annual Orange Coast Classic, at Fairview Park, beginning at 9 a.m.