Pirate men, women wrap up stellar seasons at CCCAA State Championship
FRESNO -- The Orange Coast College men's cross country team finished fifth in the state, while the Pirate women finished 13th at the 2019 California Community College Athletic Association State Cross Country Championships on Saturday at Woodward Park.
Thanks to a pair of top-20 finishes, the Pirates wrapped up the 2019 campaign with a fifth-place team score of 197, topping 16 other schools in the 21-team field. San Diego Mesa College won the title, edging out American River for the top spot.
It was an incredible season for first-year runner Brian Soriano-Guzman, who led the Pirates from the opening race of the season and capped things off with a ninth-place time of 20 minutes, 49 seconds on the four-mile course.
OCC teammate Tyler Savely cracked the top 20 for the Pirates with a 17th-place finish and a time of 21:06.8, while Andrew Lopez (21:42.7), Justin Dominguez (21:49.8) and Yuki Watanabe (22:18.2) each earned solid points for the Pirates. Other top times for the Pirates were turned in by Adam Angel (22:53.5) and Pedro Antunez (22:54).
On the women's side, OCC earned a trip to Fresno without a ton of team experience and finished 13th overall with 316 points. Glendale College won the title with 66 points, ahead of Orange Empire Conference rival Saddleback (113).
Freshman Emily Olson cracked the finish line first for the Pirates and placed 28th overall with a 5K time of 19:52.7.
Teammate Kaila Gindlesperger was close behind and finished 42nd with a time of 20:06.8, followed by Skyler Madrid (20:49.8), Gabriela Delgado (21:30.7), Meagan Silves (21:36.3), Kelsey Withers (22:05.3) and Angelica Mateo (22:59.4).
