Pirates cruise to victory at Fresno Invitational
FRESNO -- With 15 state championships, the Orange Coast College women's cross country team calls Fresno's Woodward Park -- site of the annual state championships -- its home away from home.
On Saturday, the Pirates once again showed the rest of the field the lay of the land in a very rapid pace, winning the 2013 Fresno Invitational by a wide margin, posting a team score of 32.
The next-fastest team, Mt. San Antonio finished 69 points behind the Pirates with 105 points.
Coast used four top-10 times, five top-15 times and seven top-40 times to dominate the 18-team invitational.
Sophomore Leanne Allen used a six-minute mile average and finished second overall with a time of 18 minutes, 41.75 seconds in the 5K course.
Teammate Karen Silvas was close behind Allen and finished fourth with a time of 18:51.41.
Other point-scoring performances for the Pirates were turned in by Kristie Son (eighth, 19:28.22, Raeanna Cortez (ninth, 19:29.45) and Guadalupe Cantoran (19:38.69).
Several other solid times were turned in by the Pirates, including Summer Ordaz (20:31.27), Allison Nagel (20:37.26), Aini Morales (20:44.88), Mariah Chapin (20:58.73), Norma Ledesma (21:13.09) and Bianca Moreno (21:33.29).
The Pirates will return to action on Friday at the Southern California Preview Meet, which will take place at Carbon Canyon Park, beginning at 9 a.m.
