COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Brito, Viramontes Take Cross-Country Honors

Jose Brito of Orange Coast College won the men’s division and Ruth Viramontes of Rancho Santiago took the women’s division in the Orange Empire Conference cross-country festival Friday at Central Park in Huntington Beach.

Brito ran a 21:06.4 over the hilly, four-mile course to lead OCC to the men’s team title with 33 points. Roger Nava (21:19.2) of Rancho Santiago was second, Rene Guttierrez (21:20.2) of Rancho Santiago third, and Issac Silva (21:24.4) of Cypress fourth.

In the women’s race: Viramontes covered the 5,000-meter course in 19:53 to win. Mari Benavides (20:10) of Orange Coast was second as the Pirates won the title with 33 points. Luisia Ronquillo (20:37) of Riverside was third, and Eva Orozco (20:52) of Rancho Santiago fourth.

In Orange Empire Conference women’s soccer:

Golden West 1, Long Beach 1--Shawna Savage scored in the second half to tie it, 1-1, for visiting Golden West (1-3-1, 0-0-1) in the conference opener for both teams. Nikki Turner had nine saves for Golden West.

In nonconference men’s soccer:

Irvine Valley 4, Palomar 2--Greg Daman scored in the first half, and James Fucetola, Piero Mendiola and Ryan Tinsley scored in the second half as Irvine Valley (7-0-1) won at home.

Cypress 2, Mt. San Antonio 0--Albert Jacome and Joe Chavez scored to lead visiting Cypress (2-2-1).

In nonconference women’s volleyball:

Cypress 3, Mt. San Antonio 0--Kari Calliham had 17 kills to lead host Cypress (4-0) to a 15-9, 15-9, 17-15 victory. Crystee Behnke had six kills, two blocks and 10 digs for Cypress.

Rancho Santiago 3, Merced 1--Jennifer Barberie had 15 kills and four aces to lead host Rancho Santiago (1-3) to a 10-15, 15-8, 15-13, 16-14 victory.

In the Golden West women’s volleyball pool-play tournament:

Brenda Irby had 32 kills and Joli Eberhart added 23 in six games as Golden West tied for first with DeAnza. Golden West and DeAnza each swept Orange Coast and Cuesta, but split its two-game match.

DeAnza won the first game, 15-5, and Golden West took the second, 15-13.