Glendale Community College cross-country squads look for consistency in 2015

With 28 seasons under his belt, Glendale Community College cross-country Coach Eddie Lopez has come to expect one thing from his men’s and women’s programs.

“Consistency, I just want them to consistently get better,” Lopez said while conducting a practice at Verdugo Park. “I guess it’s more than that. I want them to work, to be competitive, to do their best. There are going to be some days when it’s 100 degrees or where something else is wrong. I just want them to give me their best when the situation isn’t the best.”

Both the men’s and women’s squads will face challenges this season with expectations and goals a little more closely aligned than last year.

In 2014, the women clearly proved themselves the superior unit.

The ladies won seven of 10 races, including a Western State Conference title on Oct. 24 at Ventura College with a 24-41 victory over rival College of the Canyons. The biggest victory last season, though, came two weeks later when Glendale defeated Mt. San Antonio College, 61-79, at Woodley Park for the program’s sixth Southern California championship.

The only surprising setback came at the California Community College Athletic Assn. Cross-Country Championships in Fresno where Glendale was upset and took third behind both Mt. SAC and College of the Canyons.

From that squad, Glendale was only supposed to have lost one athlete in sophomore Glindyll Mancia, the No. 3 runner, while returning six of seven runners.

Those plans, however, never materialized.

Instead, Glendale nearly underwent wholesale changes as No. 2 runner Mariah Ayala transferred and the program lost No. 1 runner Jassmine Macon, the conference champion, and No. 6 Concepcion Flores. Both Macon and Flores are sitting out the season for health reasons.

“We think Jassmine and Concepcion will be back for track, but it’s obviously a huge loss for us,” Lopez said. “I don’t know the last time we had such unexpected turnover.

“If there’s a good thing to come out of this, it’s that that opens the door for other girls. We actually have a pretty deep team and we still set our goals high of winning a conference title and finishing in the top three at SoCal and state.”

So, from 2014, the Vaqueros return Nos. 4, 5 and 7 in sophomores Stacy Macias, Crystal Morales and Brenda Sanchez, respectively.

Among those three, 10,000-meter and 5K track and field All-American Morales has established herself as the team leader during the summer and was named captain.

“We just need to stay together, be a team, a family and communicate,” Morales said. “I think the chemistry on this team is really good. We just came back from [summer] camp and the bond got stronger.”

Joining the trio is Hoover High alumna Lucik Minassian, Glendale graduate Leana Setian and sophomore Lauren Noble. Perhaps the addition Lopez believes will make the biggest impact is former Chatsworth High standout Giselle Masedo.

“Glendale is a really good running program,” Masedo said. “I’ve compared it to other community colleges and I was sold when I saw the training program. This is the school I wanted to go to, it’s very committed.”

As for the men, they finished third in the Western State Conference, seventh at the SoCal Championships and 11th at state.

“I think they can have a good year this year and compete in conference and at SoCal,” Lopez said. “COC is going to be strong again in conference, but I think we’ll be more competitive this year.”

Unlike the women, the Vaqueros men will welcome back their top runner in sophomore Vahagn Isayan, who was 35th (21:02.9) in state, 28th (20:55.2) at SoCal and 14th (22:59.23) in conference.

“We’re going to be a better team than last year,” Isayan said. “I think the guys are closer than last year’s group and we’re in better shape.”

Joining Isayan is former Los Angeles City Section champion Edwin Morales, Crescenta Valley product Matt Manalo and fellow returner Rory Norman, a successful steeplechaser on the track team.

Burroughs alum Thomas Switzer is also back for a second year and will welcome a pair of his former teammates in freshmen Elias Hoxsie and Shane Thompson, two All-Area picks last year and integral members of the Burroughs CIF Southern Section Division I championship team.

“We have some depth this year,” Lopez said. “I think they’re going to be surprising. We’ll wait and see, but this year I expect the men and women to have good years and to be consistent.”