WESTERN STATE CONFERENCE CROSS-COUNTRY PREVIEW : Glendale Bids to Reassert WSC Dominance

When the Glendale College men’s cross-country team finished as runner-up to Ventura in last season’s Western State Conference standings, it marked only the third time since 1976 that Glendale had settled for second place.

Glendale had won the conference title 11 times during that span, including in each of the two previous seasons.

With four returnees and several newcomers, the Vaqueros appear ready to start the new decade on the right track despite losing James Moore--last season’s WSC individual runner-up in cross-country and 10,000-meter champion--who transferred to Pasadena City.

“We have the potential to win,” Glendale Coach Ed Lopez said. “We were inexperienced and we had only one sophomore on the varsity last year. We have a lot more depth this season.”

The WSC champion will be determined by three conference meets, including the finals Oct. 30 at Moorpark, which will be worth double in the standings.

Lopez expects Hugo Allan Garcia, who ran in the World Track and Field championships in 1987 for Guatemala, and Obed Aguirre from San Fernando High to be Glendale’s top runners.

Garcia, 26, placed 15th in his 5,000-meter semifinal heat at the world championships in a personal-best 14 minutes 8.72 seconds but failed to advance to the final. Aguirre was the City Section cross-country champion last season and placed fourth in the 3,200 meters (9:01.11) in the state track and field championships.

“The key to how well we do depends on how much Obed can close the (time) gap between himself and Garcia,” Lopez said. “He’s used to very low mileage and hasn’t been able to run much this summer because of a foot injury.”

Fred Mirzaian, Robert Lopez, Rick Provenzano, Oscar Perez and Javier Flores should round out Glendale’s top seven.

Mirzaian, who placed ninth in last year’s WSC cross-country championships, and Lopez, the coach’s younger brother, advanced to the Southern California track and field championships in the 1,500 and the 10,000 meters, respectively.

Provenzano finished ninth at 800 meters in the state junior college meet last season and has a best of 1:52.01; Perez was the state Division III cross-country champion for Pater Noster High last season.

Jaime Galindo, the conference champion, has graduated and David Tryke, who placed fifth, will redshirt, but four runners from a year ago return for Ventura.

Felipe Valencia, Tim Revell and Tony Marciel finished 11th, 12th and 14th, respectively, in the conference finals and will be the nucleus for Ventura.

“We look pretty good,” said Ventura’s 15th-year coach, Tuck Mason, who is predicting that Glendale and Bakersfield will be the Pirates’ top challengers for the conference title. “We’re not in shape right now and we’re a long ways off from running our best, but this is the most returners we have had since I have been here.

“It’s tough to repeat, but we’re going to have as good a shot as anybody.”

Ramon Morales and Scott Frickerson from Ventura High and Rob Weinerth from Buena are among the top newcomers in what Mason calls “one of the best freshman corps” that he has had.

Morales and Weinerth were Channel League cross-country champions in 1988 and ‘89, respectively, and Frickerson was league 1,600-meter champion (4:21.7) in May.

Bakersfield’s Juan Romero, the WSC 10,000-meter champion who placed third in cross-country, and Steve Lepken of College of the Canyons are among the top runners.

Bakersfield dominated the women’s competition last season, placing three runners among the top four and placing third in the state, but only its No. 5 runner, Kathy Sweo, returns.

Bakersfield Coach Pam Kelley considers Moorpark and Glendale, which returns WSC champion Nicole Jimenez, the early favorites for the conference title.

“(Moorpark) is going to be strong in conference and Glendale has one real good runner,” Kelley said. “Ventura and Cuesta are always tough, but I think that the rest of us could be struggling. We’re not the same team as last year.”

Moorpark will be led by former Thousand Oaks standout Tricia Mathiesen, who was 10th at 5,000 meters in the state junior college track championships in May.

Sophia Hill, who placed ninth in the conference meet last season, and freshman Blanca Gutierrez, a City Section semifinalist for Garfield at 1,600 meters, will be in the top three with Jimenez for Glendale.