Just a Day at the Beach for Glendale : Cross-country: Vaqueros show superior depth in outrunning Rancho Santiago for title at Santa Barbara Invitational. Hernandez wins.

Glendale College won Round 1 of what is expected to be a three-round battle against Rancho Santiago in the men’s race Saturday of the Santa Barbara Invitational cross-country meet at Shoreline Park.

Undefeated Glendale and Rancho Santiago were regarded as the top two teams in the state entering the meet, but after posting a 43-46 victory, the Vaqueros are the team to beat. At least until they meet again in the Johnie O Invitational on Oct. 28.

Along with El Camino, they are expected to battle for the state title Nov. 18.

“Hey, this is just the first of three races against them,” Glendale Coach Eddie Lopez said. “But I’m happy with the way we ran. I’m real satisfied with the way the guys ran together as a group. Now we’ve got to stay focused.”

Moorpark’s Eleazar Hernandez pulled away from East L.A.’s Ivo Rodrigues in the final mile to win the four-mile race in 21 minutes 10 seconds.

Glendale, led by Ramon Serratos, and Rancho Santiago, paced by Jose Rangel, each had seven individuals among the top 25 runners after the first mile. By two miles, Glendale had six and Rancho Santiago had five of the top 15.

The serious racing started after that as the field descended a quarter-mile-long hill above the beach before crossing the sand and coming back alongside the surf.

Hernandez and Rodrigues came through three miles in 16:11, with Serratos (16:23) leading a pack that included Rangel, Glendale’s Jose Padilla, Rancho Santiago’s Jorge Francisco and Glendale’s Eduardo Macias.

The Vaqueros had five runners among the top 10 at that point, and based on their positions, a solid 34-46 lead over the Dons. But things tightened up in the last mile. Rangel finished third (21:23) ahead of Serratos (21:25), Padilla (21:40) dropped from fifth to sixth and Macias (21:49) went from seventh to ninth.

In addition, Glendale’s Jose Arias and Bryan Ramos, 10th and ninth at three miles, finished 11th and 13th with identical times of 21:59.

“I told the guys before the race that the last mile or so would probably decide it,” Lopez said. “[Rancho Santiago] did a good job of hanging on at the end. That was close.”

So was the race between Hernandez and Rodrigues before the former broke away after the three-mile mark.

“I was pushing,” Hernandez said of the final mile. “He tried to pass me right about there, but I was trying to break him. I was surging and trying to mess with his mind.”

Hernandez, fifth in last year’s Foot Locker national cross-country championships as a Camarillo High senior, was hampered by a lingering cold for the three previous races, but he looked strong Saturday.

“I felt really good for the first time this season,” Hernandez said. “I was feeling weak and tired before, but today I felt good.”

Moorpark, paced by the seventh-place finish of Bridget Roy, finished second in the women’s meet with 101 points.

Pasadena City, which had three runners among the top 10, won with 52 points. Bakersfield was third with 153.

Roy, a freshman from Thousand Oaks High, defeated Ventura’s Josefina Sanchez to win the first Western State Conference meet of the season Oct. 6, but Sanchez placed second behind Rancho Santiago’s Eli Estrada this time.

Those two shared the lead for the first mile (5:57) before Estrada broke the race open on her way to a 19:26 clocking over the three-mile course. Sanchez dropped to third at two miles, but closed well to finish second in 19:45, 10 seconds ahead of Pasadena’s Aidita Gibson.