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Cross Country: OCC men, women claim OEC titles!
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Saturday, November 01, 2008
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COSTA MESA -- The trailblazing continues for the Orange Coast College men's and women's cross country teams after their impressive performances on Saturday at the Orange Empire Conference Championships, held at Fairview Park.
The OCC women claimed its 13th straight conference crown with a team score of 23 points, topping second-place Riverside (40) and third-place Saddleback (86), among others.
Sophomore standout Crystal Reed continued to add on to her championship hardware. The defending state champion is now a two-time OEC champ after winning the 5K race with a time of 18 minutes, 35.2 seconds.
All five of OCC's scoring runners placed in the top-eight, including runner-up Cassie Mitchell, who crossed the finish line at 18:50. Mitchell and Reed were the lone competitors among the 65 runners who cracked the 19-minute mark.
Kimone Hewitt was the next Pirate to finish, placing fifth at 19:21, while Andrea Guerra (seventh, 19:35) and Margaret McDuffie (eighth, 19:35.7) completed OCC's point-accumulators.
To further show the depth of the Pirate program, half of the first THIRTY runners across the finish line were from Orange Coast.
Other solid Coast times include Janina Emery (20:01), Alexandra DeAvila (20:10), Heather Cannioto (20:11), Meghan Sanchez (20:14), Hillary Labelle (20:20), Joanna Abarca (20:22), Jane Kerner (20:32), Sonya Ercout (20:35), Mishka Hulka (21:17), Teri Mitchell (21:26), Heather Thomas (21:39), Stephanie Eldridge (22:10) and Rachel Plunkett (22:40).
On the men's side, the Pirates' top-five posted a team score of 32, while Riverside (46) placed second and Saddleback (59) took third. It was Coast's seventh OEC title out of the past eight years.
Much like the women's race, it was saturated near the top of the standings with Coast runners, including this year's OEC champion Russell Westphal, who finished the four-mile course with a time of 20:08.7. Riverside's Juan Ruiz was a distant second with a 20:21.
Three other Coast runners -- Pedro Saucedo (fifth, 20:28), Raul Torres (sixth, 20:37) and Sergio Olivarrias (eighth, 20:47) finished in the top-10, while teammate Kirk Hunter rounded out the scoring with his 12th-place time of 20:53.
Other OCC times for the men include Garrett Fuerte (21:23), Aldo Gordian (21:27), James Ko (21:38), Alfonso Silvas (21:42), Brian Tran (21:49.5), Mason Miller (22:01.1), Weston Hall (22:25), Alex Torres (22:38), Santiago Gudino (24:01) and Anthony Amaya (24:14).
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