THE COMMUNITY COLLEGES : Orange Empire Conference Cross-Country : Orange Coast Racks Up Men’s, Women’s Titles

Orange Coast College continued its domination of Orange Empire Conference cross-county competition Friday as both the men’s and women’s teams won in the conference meet at Central Park in Huntington Beach.

The Pirate teams already had swept the dual-meet conference season with 6-0 records coming into the conference finals.

OCC won the men’s title with 42 points Friday. Riverside (58) was second, Fullerton (73) third, Saddleback (85) fourth, Rancho Santiago (95) fifth, Golden West (162) sixth and Cypress (210) seventh.

Alfredo Vigueras of OCC won the men’s 4-mile race in 20 minutes 13 seconds.

Dan Reed of Riverside finished second in 20:14. Fullerton’s Marcial Beltran, who was expected to push Vigueras the most, was third in 20:36, and Mike Buckhiff of Riverside was fourth at 20:42.

The runners stayed in a tight pack for the first 1 1/2 miles, but the front four broke away as they headed up the hill on the first of 2 laps.

Reed led through most of the first lap on the long hill, but Vigueras took over as they came down the hill. Vigueras slowly widened his lead on the second lap over the hill and was never challenged as the runners headed toward the flat final mile before the finish.

Brad Sigler (20:44) of OCC was fifth, Pedro Garcia (20:56) of Rancho Santiago was sixth and Ken McFadden of Saddleback was seventh.

In the women’s competition, OCC won with ease despite having top runner Linda Howard sit out because of a hip injury. OCC had 39 points followed by Rancho Santiago (67), Riverside (82), Saddleback (89) and Golden West (107). Neither Fullerton nor Cypress had the required 5 runners to score as a team.

The OCC teams qualify for Friday’s Southern California regional races at Bakersfield.

“It was a gamble to hold her (Howard) out, but we think she’ll be better able to run next week,” OCC Coach Gordie Fitzel said. “We worked the team really hard this week and they might have been a bit tired today. But we think it will make us a better team at the Southern California regionals.”

Tina Sanchez of Riverside easily won the women’s 5,000-meter race. She took the lead quickly, increased her advantage on the two laps over the hills and finished in 20:53. Jen Rigney, also of Riverside, was second in 21:16.

Five OCC runners finished in the top 11. Michele Weaver (21:26) was third, Diane Maher (21:47) sixth, Chris Fairbanks (22:13) ninth, Stacy Jacobson (22:21) 10th and Michele Manlapeg (22:32) 11th.