Arreola Wins 2nd CCAA Title

Darcy Arreola left little doubt that she was the class of the women’s field in Saturday’s California Collegiate Athletic Assn. cross-country championships at Cal State Bakersfield. But the men’s race was a little closer. So close, in fact, that there’s still some question as to who won.

Arreola claimed her second CCAA title, finishing the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 43 seconds to easily outdistance Jamie Park of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, who placed second in 16:58. Arreola won in 1987 but sat out last season because of injuries. Park’s second-place finish helped the Lady Mustangs, the seven-time defending NCAA Division II champions, place five runners in the top eight en route to their 11th consecutive conference title. SLO finished with 22 points, followed by Cal State Los Angeles (52) and Northridge (59).

In the men’s race, CSLA’s Jesus Gutierrez held a 15-meter lead over SLO’S Jim Sorensen with 200 meters left in the five-mile race and appeared to be on his way to his second consecutive individual title. But Sorensen put on a strong surge to pull even with Gutierrez at the finish.

Both runners thought they had won, but Sorensen subsequently was awarded the victory despite protests from Golden Eagle Coach John Tansley, who claimed that videotape of the finish showed Gutierrez’s right shoulder had crossed the line first. That point ultimately allowed Northridge to hold off CSLA for second place in the team scoring.

Led by Sasha Vujic and Jorge Castro, who finished third and fourth, CSUN edged CSLA, 57-58. SLO won the meet with 39 points.

Gutierrez and Sorensen were both clocked in 24:09 over the flat course that traversed the Bakersfield campus. Vujic and Castro finished in 24:16 and 24:18.

A lead pack that included Gutierrez, Sorensen, Vujic and Castro passed through mile splits of 4:41, 9:35, 14:33 and 19:36 before Gutierrez made a break with 1,000 meters left. He quickly opened a 50-meter lead but couldn’t hold it down the final stretch.

Bob Evans, 15th (24:47), Derik Vett, 16th (24:49) and Rich Gatahi, 19th (24:51), rounded out the CSUN scoring.

Jeff Gilkey, suffering from the flu, ran among the leaders for three miles but faded and finished 33rd.

“We ran the best we have all season in terms of the time gap between our first five runners,” Northridge Coach Don Strametz said. “But we can still improve. And we’re going to have to if we hope to qualify for nationals.”

To qualify, CSUN must finish in the top three in next week’s Far Western regional, hosted by Humboldt State next Saturday. Five teams--SLO (second), CSUN (fourth), Riverside (ninth), CSLA (11th) and Pomona (12th) had been ranked nationally going into the race.

In the women’s race, Arreola led from the gun, passing the first mile in 5:15 with a five-meter lead. At two miles, reached in 10:42, she held a five-second advantage.