Glendale Community College women’s cross-country cruises at WSC preview

OXNARD — Glendale Community College’s women’s cross-country team stated its case Friday.

The Vaqueros dominated the field at the Western State Conference Preview meet at Oxnard College, placing five runners in the top seven for a 20-41 win over runner-up College of the Canyons.

Leana Setian was the women’s individual winner as she covered the five-kilometer course in 18 minutes, 39.17 seconds and was followed by freshman teammate Giselle Masedo at 18:44.07.

“We’ve been working really hard all week and we aspired to work as a team,” said Setian, who attended Glendale and Clark Magnet highs. “We ran smart and we ran together. We wanted to work on closing our gaps and we did that today.”

Crystal Morales finished fourth (18:50.21), Stacy Macias was sixth (18:56.97) and Brenda Sanchez was seventh (18:59.94) for the Vaqueros, whose top five runners were separated by just 20 seconds.

It was the fourth time in the past five meets GCC held off Canyons. Glendale suffered its lone setback this season to Canyons at the Southern California Preview in San Diego on Sept. 18.

“We’re a lot closer this year,” Morales said. “Our gaps are closer and we just enjoy being around each other.”

Jessica Ruiz and Lexi Whitman placed third and fifth at 18:47.24 and 18:53.90, respectively, for College of the Canyons.

“Both of our teams did really well today,” Glendale Coach Eddie Lopez said. “But the women ran the best they have ran all year today. We’re peaking at the right time. If the workouts are any indication, we should be in the top three at state. We’re on a mission this year.”

The Glendale men’s team placed four runners in the top 10, but suffered a 41-42 setback to College of the Canyons.

Vahagn Isayan was the top finisher for the Vaqueros as he finished second in 20:28.60.

“We’re happy with the way we ran today as a team and we know we’re getting closer to the top spot,” Isayan said. “I have won individual titles before but I have never really won a team title. This is what this year has been all about.”

Shane Thompson placed sixth at 20:25.07, Alejandro Ambrossio clocked 20:49.61 to finish eighth, Matthew Manalo (Crescenta Valley High) was 10th at 20:53.15 and Rory Norman finished 16th at 21:10.40.

Ventura’s Sam Boyle was the individual winner, covering the four-mile course in 20:18.34.

“We know we can compete,” Isayan said. “Some of our guys can get better and they will get better. We’re hungrier now because we lost by one point.”