Pirates earn runner-up team finish at OEC Finals
A very successful 2023 season continues for the Orange Coast College men's cross country team as the Pirates earned a second-place team finish at the 2023 Orange Empire Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday at Mile Square Park.
Led by five top-15 performances, the Pirates earned the runner-up spot of 41 points, just 10 points off of Riverside City College's winning score of 31. Saddleback finished third with 61 points, followed by Fullerton (115), Santiago Canyon (143) and Golden West (143).
It was a 2-3 finish for the Pirates while helped set the pace for the group. Freshman Jimmy Dominguez earned a solid second-place time of 20 minutes, 13.47 seconds on the four-mile course, while teammate Viencent Luong-Kha was equally impressive, placing third with a 20:25.86.
Another top-10 performance came from Carlos Ramos, who placed 10th with a time of 21:19.54, just ahead of teammate William Spangler's 11th-place time of 21:19.98. Rounding out the point-producing times was Farhaan Safi, who earned a 15th-place mark after crossing the finish line with a time of 21:47.12.
Other solid OCC times were turned in by Caden Guardino (22:09.92), Lance Copp (22:21.12), Don Molina (22:59.04), Damian Martinez (23:26.12), Anthony Bernal (23:27.02), Ronald Nguyen (23:40.6), Emiliano Gonzalez (24:04.79) and Kevin Rivas (27:20.11).
Up next for Coast will be the Southern California Regional Meet, which will take place on Friday, Nov. 3 at El Dorado East Regional Park, beginning at 11 a.m.
The 3C2A State Meet will be held on Nov. 18 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
