Sweep hopes growing for Glendale Community College cross-country
For the first time in a long time, hope that the Glendale Community College men’s and women’s cross-country teams can capture Southern California Regional Championships on the same weekend is alive.
Over the last decade, perhaps the odds haven’t been better than for Friday at Irvine Regional Park. The women are scheduled to run their five-kilometer race at 10 a.m., while the men will compete on a four-mile path at 11 a.m.
The women enter their competition top-ranked in Southern California and the state and have maintained their spot above everyone else since the first California Community College Athletic Assn. rankings came out on Sept. 17.
Glendale has been truly dominant this year as it has claimed victories in seven of eight races with the lone non-victory a fifth-place showing in a meet filled with NCAA Division I universities.
“The expectation is to win every week,” Glendale Community College Coach Eddie Lopez said. “We know what we have to do and don’t really worry about the competition. As long as we go out and run our race, we’ll win.”
The Vaqueros are coming off a 30-87 victory over College of the Canyons at the Western State Conference Championships held at Oxnard College on Oct. 21.
The victory clinched the program’s 12th straight conference championship. In the race, the Vaqueros crossed their five scorers through the first 10 spots with sophomores Giselle Masedo (18 minutes, 36.94 seconds) and Leana Setian (18:49.63) placing second and third.
“It’s nice to have that push up front, but we have the kind of team where anyone in the top five can step up and lead,” Lopez said. “I think you’re going to see a great result at SoCal.”
A Vaqueros’ victory Saturday would mark the program’s third straight SoCal championship and eighth over the last 11 years.
If there’s one advantage Glendale has this season over its competition, perhaps it’s rest.
The squad has alternated races with byes each of the last six weeks, beginning Oct. 7.
If there’s more optimism for a sweep this year than last, it’s because of the resurgence of the men’s program.
The Vaqueros enjoyed a bye a week after convincingly thumping Cuesta College, 27-86, at the Western State Conference Championship. The triumph secured the Vaqueros’ first conference crown in three years.
“Honestly, we should have never gotten into a funk where we weren’t winning conference championships,” Lopez said. “The guys have really run well as a team this year and they have a chance. It’s going to be tough, but they have a chance.”
While the women have enjoyed much success at the Southern California championships, the men haven’t, with their lone victory taking place in 2005.
Glendale is No. 4 in Southern California and No. 5 state and will face a challenging field that includes state heavyweights San Bernardino Valley College (No. 1), Mt. San Antonio College (No. 2) and Riverside City (No. 3).
Glendale has won four of eight races this season, but only one since Sept. 30.
The Vaqueros boast a strong trio up front with sophomores Shane Thompson, Luis Celaya and Alejandro Ambrossio.
Thompson finished second at the conference finals in Oxnard in a time of 20:49.81.
The Southern California Championships mark the second-to-last race of the season.
After a bye, the Glendale men and women, should they qualify from the SoCal championships, will close out the season at the CCCAA State Championships at Fresno’s Woodward Park on Nov. 19.
