COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Irvine Valley Women Hit Ground Running

The Irvine Valley College women’s cross-country team placed five runners among the top 15 and won the Orange Empire Conference Festival Friday at the Rubidoux Nature Center in Riverside.

Saddleback’s Denise Hertsch outlasted Irvine Valley’s Sue Davis over the five-kilometer course to win in 19 minutes 25 seconds, but Davis (second, 19:35) and teammates Stacey Skeie (fourth, 20:50), Marilyn Ganahl (seventh, 21:04), Debbie Deming (12th, 21:41) and Angela Chavez (14th, 22:33) combined for the Lasers’ victory.

Irvine Valley--in its first year of cross-country competition--had 35 points. Saddleback was second with 40, followed by Riverside (54), Orange Coast (91), Golden West (115) and Fullerton (139).

In the men’s race:

Riverside runners took the first three places and had five of the top 10 as the Tigers won easily. Riverside’s Muchi Mazeno won the four-mile race in 20:44. Gray Mavhere was second and Melford Homala was third. Rancho Santiago’s Asvaldo Serna was fourth in 21:31.

Riverside finished with 18 points, followed by Rancho Santiago (40), Fullerton (98), Golden West (109), Irvine Valley (133) and Orange Coast (175).

In nonconference men’s soccer:

Fullerton 1, Long Beach 1--Henry Crompton scored in the first half for host Fullerton.

In nonconference women’s soccer:

Cypress 1, Bakersfield 0 (forfeit)--Bakersfield’s bus broke down on the way to Cypress.

At the Merced water polo tournament:

Orange Coast 14, Merced 9--Bill Nickel scored four goals for the Pirates and Erik Terwilliger had nine saves for OCC (11-1), the second-ranked team in the state.

Orange Coast 12, Citrus 5--Nickel scored four goals and Rich Ruffini had three for Orange Coast in the first round.

Golden West 18, Modesto 6--Alfred VanDorp scored five goals and Morgan Courtney added three for Golden West (6-0) in a second-round game. Golden West, the top-ranked team in the state, advanced past Ventura in the first round by forfeit.