Pirate women finish seventh at SoCal regionals to earn a spot at State Meet
SAN DIEGO -- The Orange Coast College men's and women's cross country teams each earned a round-trip to Fresno for the upcoming State Meet after posting solid scores at the 2015 Southern California Regional Meet, held at Mission Bay Park on Friday.
With five runners cracking the top-60 in the 175-runner field, the Pirate women finished seventh overall with a team score of 202 points. Glendale won the regional title with a team score of 32, followed by College of the Canyons (115), San Diego Mesa (131), Cerritos (139), Riverside (168) and Mt. San Antonio (200).
Sophomore standout Janessa Reyes was OCC's top runner, finishing the 5K course in 20th place with a time of 19 minutes, 50.3 seconds. Close behind Reyes was teammate Alyssa Allen, who placed 21st with a time of 19:52.7.
Other top OCC times were turned in by Bethani Heising (20:33.8), Karen Cruz (20:46.2), Rebecca Ross (20:51.9) and Daisy Vazquez (21:38.9) and Jennifer Romero (23:22).
On the men's side, Coast also finished seventh with 218 points, topped only by Mt. SAC (82), Riverside (100), San Bernardino Valley (124), Canyons (142), Saddleback (153) and Glendale (156).
Three Pirate runners -- Galyn Nash, Eamon Smythe and Danny Dominguez -- each cracked the top-30 to lead the way. Nash placed 19th with a four-mile time of 21:21.7, while Smythe placed 22nd with a time of 21:25.8 and Dominguez clocked in with a time of 21:37.8 for the 28th spot.
Other top OCC times were turned in by Oscar Salas (22:23.4), Joseph Martinez, (22.28.8), Alex Perez (22:40.8) and Daniel Vargas (23:18.9).
With their seventh-place team scores, both teams have earned a spot in the 2015 California Community College Athletic Association State Cross Country Meet, set for Saturday, Nov. 21 at Fresno's historic Woodward Park, beginning at 10 a.m.
