COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Rancho Santiago Edges Riverside in Race

Rancho Santiago beat Riverside by one point to win the men’s cross-country competition of the six-team Orange Empire Conference Festival Friday at Craig Park in Brea.

Rancho Santiago runners placed second, seventh, eighth, 11th and 15th to finish with 43 points. Riverside runners were third, fourth, ninth, 12th and 16th.

Darin Rabb of Orange Coast won the four-mile race in 19 minutes 43 seconds. Rancho Santiago’s Fidel Zavala set the pace for most of the first two miles, but Rabb closed the gap and took the lead during the hilly third mile. Rabb then pulled away for the victory in the final mile, which is primarily flat.

Zavala was second in 19:59. Riverside’s Marchoud Abderazak (20:12) was third and teammate Jimma Alamayehu (20:30) was fourth. Orange Coast’s Robert Ho (20:32) took fifth.

In the women’s five-kilometer race, Golden West runners finished first and second, but Irvine Valley placed three in the top eight to win with 46 points.

Orange Coast (53) was second and Golden West (62) third.

Kim Foster and teammate Lisa Mote of Golden West took control almost from the outset and held a five-second lead after the first mile. They ran about a step apart much of the rest of the way until Foster held off Mote in the final 200 yards. Foster won in 17:53, with Mote a second behind. It was the second consecutive victory for Foster, who won at Fresno last Saturday.

Irvine Valley’s Donna Proia (18:02) was third, and teammate Mayra Medina (18:08) was fourth. Adrienne Sweetser (18:23) of Orange Coast was fifth.