Glendale takes women's title at SoCal Preview Meet while San Diego Mesa, El Camino tie for men's title
SoCal Preview Meet (complete results)
NORWALK - The Glendale women's cross country team posted a five-point over runner-up Saddleback College at Saturday's SoCal Preview Meet, hosted by Cerritos College, while San Diego Mesa and El Camino tied for top honors on the men's side as teams got a good look at each other as the season begins to heat up.
Paced by a third-place finish from Jennifer Perez-Casarez (18:18.6) and a seventh-place showing by Noemi Apreza (19:00.6) over the 5k course, the Vaqueros tallied 77 points to edge Saddleback, which was led by Holly Morales' ninth-place finish in 19:05.67. Ventura (145), San Bernardino Valley (157) and Moorpark (166) completed the top five teams in the standings. Moorpark's Samantha Barajas was a convincing winner in the race, crossing in 17:49.3 while Olivia Burton of Ventura was second in 18:10.0.
San Diego Mesa and El Camino each scored 90 points to tie for first on the men's side with El Camino's Carson Bix winning the individual title in 20:01.5 on the 4-mile course. Ricardo Torres of Oxnard was second in 20:08.2, barely edging Michael Ramirez of San Bernardino Valley who came through in 20:08.5. S.D. Mesa, led by a fourth-place showing from Isaiah Labra (20:10.6) placed all of its scoring runners among the top 33 finishers to help it gain a share of first while El Camino had three runners in the top 11, a group that included Ethan Comeaux (20:28.0) and Manny Gil (290.32.9) in 10th and 11th places, respectively.
Riverside City finished fourth (143) while American River was the lone NorCal representative in the race and was fifth with 194 points.