Community College Cross-Country : Orange Coast Qualifies for State Meet

The Orange Coast College men’s and women’s cross-country teams qualified for the state meet Friday at the Southern California Regionals in Guajome Park at Vista.

MiraCosta won the women’s division with 47 points, Orange Coast (72) was second, Santa Monica (120) third, El Camino (128) fourth and Mt. San Antonio (134) fifth. The top five teams advance to the state meet Nov. 15 in Fresno.

MiraCosta’s Teresa Barrios, who attended University High School, won the 5,000-meter race in 17 minutes 44 seconds. Haroline Walters led Orange Coast with a fifth-place finish in 18:03.

OCC’s Luis Curl, third in the Orange Empire Conference meet last week, was one of eight runners to fall at the start Friday. The race continued despite the mishap, however, and Curl finished 12th in 18:41.

Saddleback’s Dierdre Vaughan (18:51) was 15th and Maura Daly (19:45) 34th. The Gauchos were sixth.

Among OCC’s other top runners were Tracy Wright (19:05) 18th, Julie Yost (19:19) 23rd and Delinda Patino (19:51) 35th.

“We didn’t run really well,” Pirate Coach Gordie Fitzel said. “We’ll be able to give them (MiraCosta) a better challenge in the state meet.”

In the men’s division, Hancock won with 48 points, Mt. San Antonio (66) was second, OCC (102) third, MiraCosta (135) fourth and San Diego City (144) fifth. The top five teams qualified for the state meet.

The four-mile race was won by Matt Clayton (19:53) of San Diego City. Jim Vance (19:59) of Mt. San Antonio was second and Jose Alcaraz (20:17) of OCC third. The Pirates’ Dave Parsel (20:25) was seventh and Sal Alcaraz (21:00) 24th.

“We kind of figured we’d get third,” Fitzel said. “We’ve seen Hancock before. They’re a tough team, and we’ll have to run well at the state meet to challenge them.”