Pirates take second overall at OEC Championships
BUENA PARK -- Under near-perfect conditions, the Orange Coast College men's cross country team topped all but one team at the 2021 Orange Empire Conference Championships, finishing second overall with 65 points on Friday at Clark Park.
Orange Coast used its steady depth on the squad to score low points throughout the lineup and finished ahead of everyone, except Riverside (21 points). Saddleback finished third overall with 70 points, followed by Santa Ana (129), Santiago Canyon (135) and Fullerton (138).
Leading the way for the Pirates was freshman standout Kade Franco, who finished 10th overall with a four-mile time of 22 minutes, 50.3 seconds, with teammate Danovish Molina Jr. close behind with an 11th-place time of 22:52.3.
Next to cross the finish line for the Pirates was freshman Hector Espana, who finished 23rd overall with a time of 23:48.9, edging out teammate Viencent Luong-Kha's 24th-place time of 23:49.4. Cole Ridenour was OCC's final point-earner with a 26th-place time of 23:53.5.
Other top times for OCC include Erik Galindo (23:58.8), Connor O'Brien (24:08.3), August Garcia (24:20.3), German Ramos (24:35.6), Daniel Rioquinto (25:20.3), Zachary Lang (25:31.1) and Tyler Marcyes (29:45.3).
Coast will return to action on Friday at Mile Square Park for the 2021 Southern California Regional Meet, which will begin at 12 p.m.
