Allen cruises to OEC cross country title!
HUNTINGTON BEACH -- In a race that featured 52 of the top runners in the Orange Empire Conference, at the finish line, Orange Coast College's Alyssa Allen stood out from the rest, winning the OEC Meet on Friday by over 22 seconds.
After finishing third at the OEC Meet last year, Allen left no doubt who the top runner in the conference was as she set the pace on the 5K course at Central Park and crossed the finish line with a time of 19 minutes, 2.9 seconds. Santa Ana College's Toni Lopez, last year's OEC champion, finished a distant second with a time of 19:25.2, while Santiago Canyon's Gabrielle De La Rosa (19:38.4) took third.
Another top-10 performance for the Pirates came from sophomore Bethani Heising, who used a 6:27-per-mile average to finish seventh with a time of 20:03.2.
As a team, the Pirates finished fourth overall with 83 points, behind Riverside (52), Saddleback (52) and Santa Ana (75) and ahead of Santiago Canyon (116), Fullerton (161) and Golden West (177).
Other top times for the Pirates included Karen Cruz (21st, 22:05.3), Jennilee Reyes (22:36.3), Elizabeth Diaz Cortes (34th, 23:33.9) and Tarah Buckels (37th, 24:24).
The Pirate ladies will return to action on Friday at the Southern California Regional Finals, held at Irvine Park in Orange, beginning at 10 a.m.
