Glendale Community College cross-country captures individual, team conference titles
SOUTH EL MONTE — Instead of competing in the college portion of the Mount San Antonio Invitational last week, Glendale Community College cross-country Coach Eddie Lopez had his team travel to South El Monte for a workout at Legg Lake.
“Mt. SAC is a very prestigious meet and it’s a meet that we like to run in,” said Lopez, who is in his 29th year. “But we knew we had to come [to Legg Lake] to get to know the course and be able to run there. We knew there was something more important than Mt. SAC.”
That more important meet was the Western State Conference Championships on Friday, which was held at Legg Lake.
Vaqueros runners admitted the workout a week earlier helped them turn in a banner day on Friday. Competing against come of the top teams in Southern California, Glendale captured two individual titles, as Crystal Morales motored to a championship on the women’s side and Vahagn Isayan took the crown on the men’s side.
Morales also led a dominant performance from the Vaqueros women, who placed five runners among the top six finishers to run away with the team championship. The Glendale men’s team also enjoyed a fine effort, placing second after being bested by champion College of the Canyons.
For the Vaqueros women, it was their 11th straight conference championship.
“I think it helped a lot that we got to run here last week to see how the course was,” Isayan said. “It’s a really fast course and it was mostly flat with no hills. It was tough, but I’m glad I knew what to expect.”
With their finishes, both Glendale teams will advance to the Southern California Championships Nov. 6 in San Diego.
In the women’s five-kilometer race, Morales was second behind COC’s Jessica Ruiz after the first mile. But a half mile later, Morales made her move, took the lead and never relinquished it, crossing the finish line in 18 minutes 12.29 seconds.
“I know it helped me that I ran here before,” Morales said. “I just wanted to go out there and do the best that I could. It’s a tough course and I felt tired, but I tried not to give up.”
Only Ruiz (second, 18:16.81) broke up the Vaqueros’ pack of five top runners. Stacy Macias placed third in 18:29.27 and was followed by Leana Setian (fourth, 18:42.41), Giselle Masedo (fifth, 18:44.02) and Brenda Sanchez (sixth, 18:46.30.
“If someone from our team takes the lead, it’s OK with them no matter who it is,” Lopez said. “The other runners will stay together and that’s why they pack so well. That’s the way they run all the time; it’s a real team thing for them.”
Glendale finished with 19 points, finishing ahead of COC, which had 38. Citrus was third with 126 points.
In the men’s race, Sam Boyle of COC went out quickly and enjoyed an early lead. However, just before the half-way point of the race, Isayan made his move and took over the lead of the four-mile race, finishing first in 19:30.79. COC’s Ethan Walker was second in 19:37.19.
“I was just waiting for my time in the race,” Isayan said. “I was just waiting until about half-way in the race when people start falling back, that’s when I wanted to go. I know that’s when everyone gets tired and I wanted to take advantage of that.”
Isayan was followed by teammates Shane Thompson (ninth, 20:18.88), Matthew Manalo (11th, 20:29.26), Elias Hoxsie (17th, 20:40.87) and Alejandro Ambrossio (18th, 20:42.47).
Canyons won the race with 24 points, while Glendale was second with 56 and Cuesta was third with 121.
