Pirates take third in season opener
FULLERTON -- The Orange Coast College men's cross country team put forth a solid, third-place performance at the season-opening Mark Covert Classic, held at Cal State Fullerton's Carbon Canyon Park on Saturday.
In the open-school race, the Pirates finished with 71 points, trailing only Glendale College (46 points) and Pomona-Pitzer University (56 points).
Showing the depth of a top-flight program, Coast had five runners finish in the top-25 among open-school competitors and six in the top 30.
Leading the way for the Pirates was Lucio Ramirez, who conquered the 8k course with a sixth-place time of 26 minutes, 46.3 seconds. Sophomore teammate Jose Ortiz was right behind Ramirez with a seventh-place time of 26:48.5. Other point-earning times were turned in by Luis Morales (11th, 27:02.2), Christopher Harlan (23rd, 27:25.7) and Ryan Ogan (24th, 27:30.6).
Other solid times were turned in by OCC teammates Omar Cisneros (28:01), Jesus Valez (28:17.4), Cesar Galvez (29:30.3), Justin Larios (29:31.5), Michael Martinez (29:32) and Rory Human (30:11.9).
The Pirates will return to action on Saturday at the Fresno Invitational, held at Woodward Park, beginning at 8 a.m.
