Glendale Community College cross-country drops uphill battle at Mt. SAC

A four-race winning streak and an air of invincibility ended for the Glendale Community College women’s cross-country team Friday morning at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Vaqueros entered top-ranked in state, but fell to host Mt. SAC, 46-49. The men, who also competed in the invitational, took sixth.

“It was really close, down to the wire,” Glendale Coach Eddie Lopez said. “I can’t be disappointed because the effort was there. Hey, we can’t win every week.”

For the Glendale women, the runner-up finish marks only the second time this season the Vaqueros didn’t win an event, as the squad last took silver at the Fresno Invitational at Woodward Park on Sept. 6.

Since then, Glendale had racked up four straight victories, including on Oct. 10 at the Santa Barbara Invitational at Shoreline Park, when it handily defeated Mt. SAC, 32-61.

Fast forward to Friday and the No. 3-ranked Mounties certainly improved as they posted a better total team time (1 hour, 32 minutes and 46.60 seconds to 1:33:39.30) and team average time (18:33.92 to 18:43.86) than Glendale.

Not unexpected, Jassmine Macon paced the Vaqueros by taking third in 18:06.1. Macon was the fastest freshman overall and trailed only race-winner Laura Aceves (17:44) of East Los Angeles College and Mt. SAC’s Sierra Ungerman (17:55.4).

Glendale and Mt. SAC both placed three runners in the top 10, as freshman Concepcion Flores (eighth, 18:40) and sophomore Glindyll Mancia (ninth, 18:46.9) were close behind Macon for Glendale.

Vaqueros freshman Mariah Ayala was Glendale’s next finisher, taking 11th in 18:48.6, while freshman Stacy Macias closed out Glendale’s scoring in placing 19th in 19:17.6.

“You know, you have to give some credit to Mt. SAC,” Lopez said. “They didn’t run everyone they had last week and the score was worst than it should have been.

“This week, their team was well-rested and it’s their home course, plus they’re really good. So, it’s hard to go into someone’s backyard and beat them.”

On the men’s side, the sixth-place Vaqueros finished with 156 points in a race won by Western State Conference rival College of the Canyons, which finished with 32 points.

Freshman Luis Celaya was Glendale’s top runner, pushing his way to 21st in 21:44.5.

Celaya was one of three Glendale runners to post a top-30 finish along with freshmen Rory Norman (28th, 22:00.7) and Edwin Morales (30th, 22:02.3).

“The effort was there for the guys, but I think they were just tired after the first mile,” Lopez said. “It was a really good field – you had the second best team from Northern California in Hartnell there – so, I can’t be disappointed with their finish.”

While there may be room for concern given both team’s finishes and with conference finals a week away, Lopez was calm.

“It just a matter of getting some rest and getting ready for the big races,” Lopez said. “We’ll be fine.”