Glendale Is in No State to Repeat

Glendale College fell short in its bid to win a second consecutive men’s title in the junior college cross-country state championships at Fairbanks Park in San Luis Obispo on Saturday.

The Vaqueros had 109 points to finish third behind Orange Coast (100) and Mt. San Antonio (108).

San Diego Mesa, which won the Southern California championships on Nov. 5, was fourth with 111 points.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Glendale Coach Eddie Lopez said. “But any time you’re in the top three in the state championships, it’s a big honor.”

Eduardo Diaz of Glendale finished eighth with a 21:36 clocking over the four-mile course, with Alejandro Lemus 19th in 22:00, Jorge Lopez 26th in 22:12, Henry Briseno 27th in 22:13 and Marco Arriaga 43rd in 22:26 for the Vaqueros.

“I knew it was going to be close,” Lopez said. “We had the lead at three miles, but at the end we didn’t finish. We were just holding on.”

Aaron Sharp of Oxnard placed 15th in 21:50, but Brian Spangenberg of Canyons was a disappointing 92nd in 23:08.

Orange Coast won its third consecutive women’s title with a 62-93 victory over El Camino. San Diego Mesa was third with 117 points.

Ventura was seventh with 255 points, Moorpark was ninth with 288 and Glendale was 13th with 347.

Kim Lorimer of Glendale finished fourth with a 19:01 clocking over the 5,000-meter course.

Yadi Ramirez of Ventura was sixth in 19:15 and Jeanene Gerry of Moorpark was 10th in 19:51.