Glendale Community College Cross-Country Preview: Greatness remains goal for Vaqueros
In terms of recent history, there may not have been a better joint fall season than 2016 for the Glendale Community College men’s and women’s cross-country programs.
Each side enjoyed wonderful efforts behind talented and driven sophomore leaders.
Such success seems difficult to duplicate, but perhaps Vaqueros coach Eddie Lopez has the pedigree and passion to propel Glendale to more titles in 2017.
“For the guys, I want them to repeat as conference champions and I’m looking again for top three in Southern California and top three in state,” Lopez said. “For the ladies, we have a lot of runners back. We want to win everything again, but it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be between us and Mount [San Antonio College].”
For the women, dominance was again commonplace.
The Vaqueros rolled over College of the Canyons, 30-87, on Oct. 21 at Oxnard College to capture a 12th consecutive Western State Conference Championship.
They followed that up by hammering Riverside, 45-128, on Nov. 4 at Irvine Regional Park for a third consecutive Southern California Championship.
Finally, the Vaqueros capped another impressive season with a 42-107 triumph over College of the Sequoias at the California Community College Athletic Assn. Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park. The title was the second straight for Glendale, fifth in Lopez’ tenure and eighth in program history.
If Glendale is to match such success in 2017, it will have to do so without its top two runners from last season —sophomores Giselle Masedo and Leana Setian (Glendale High and Clark Magnet).
“We lost some great girls, sure,” Lopez said, “but we still have five coming back. Anytime you can come back with four girls under 19 minutes, that’s pretty good.”
Glendale’s No. 3 runner from last season, sophomore Angelica Salas, is back and ready to lead. Salas finished 11th at the state championships in 18 minutes, 40.6 seconds and is coming off a track and field season in which she finished second in Southern California in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (11:27.47).
“The expectations are to run our hardest, stay together in every race and push ourselves,” Salas said. “We lost two great runners up front, but we still have three very strong people coming back.”
Salas will be flanked by Fiona Faulkner (16th in state in 18:54.9) and by Glendale High product Nona Boyajan (17th in state in 18:55).
Lopez believes that freshman Jennifer Perez, from Santee High, will end up becoming the team’s top newcomer.
While success has been a known commodity for the women, the men turned in a part-surprising, part-sensational effort last season.
Glendale won conference for the first time in three years with a 27-86 victory over Cuesta. The Vaqueros followed that up by earning second (62-85) at the Southern California Championships behind San Bernardino Valley. Lastly, the team tied its best-ever finish at state by placing second (88-112) behind Riverside.
Like the women, the Glendale men relied on a strong one-two punch in Shane Thompson and Alejandro Ambrossio.
With both graduated and Glendale’s state No. 3 runner gone, the next top returner is sophomore Raymond Lopez, who finished 28th at the state championships in 21:06.2.
“It’s humbling to be in this position especially because I was probably on the lower end of the team last year,” said Lopez, who captured the Southern California 10K championship (31:35.84) in track last spring. “It makes me happy that I’m getting better, but I also have a standard to meet that Shane and Alejandro set.”
The men’s team will look to former Pacific League rivals in Paulo Vazquez (Glendale), Phillip Thomas (Crescenta Valley) and Antonio Arroyo (Arcadia) to stay up front with Lopez.
