Rancho Santiago Comes Through at Fresno Meet

Rancho Santiago had a strong performance at the Fresno Cross-Country Invitational Saturday at Woodward Park.

The Dons had four runners finish among the top 10 in the men’s competition and won the invitational.

The Dons’ Brian Mitzel finished second with a time of 20 minutes 58 seconds over four miles, 13 seconds behind top finisher Julio Cuevard of Los Angeles Trade Tech.

Teammate Ben Mejia finished in third place, two seconds behind Mitzel.

Wenceslado Morles finished seventh in 21:17 and Federico Morales was 10th with a time of 21:26. Mike Buellan finished 13th for the Dons.

Teammates Danny Gonzalez and Roger Elias were 21st and 22nd for Rancho Santiago.

The Dons’ Elly Estrada won the women’s race with a time of 18:56 over 5,000 meters. Teammate Jennifer Flores was fifth with a time of 19:48. Rancho Santiago’s women finished third behind West Valley and women’s team champion Mt. San Antonio.

Laura Alvarez finished 19th for the Dons with a time of 21:14. Teammates Anna Rosales and Miriam Garcia finished 21st and 26th.

At the Whittier Invitational:

Irvine Valley places 11th--The Irvine Valley men finished 11th and their top individual finisher was Tom Bertch, who placed 43rd in 21:28 over the 3.7-mile course at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park in Buena Park.

Terry Nelson finished 40th in 21:25 for Golden West, which placed 14th overall.

In the women’s race, Leslie Bindloss finished 31st for Irvine Valley with a time of 25:13 over 6,000 meters. Teammate Brenda Francek finished 32nd.

At the Allan Hancock men’s soccer tournament:

Irvine Valley wins three--Eric Pfiefer scored three goals in three games as Irvine Valley (3-0) went undefeated in pool play. Irvine Valley plays Citrus today in the opening round of bracket play.

In nonconference women’s water polo:

Citrus 10, Saddleback 5--Kate Henry scored twice for Saddleback. Teammate Carol Whalen scored five goals as the Gauchos (1-1) defeated El Camino, 11-9, in an earlier game.