Owls Have Historic Day at SoCal Preview
Van Nuys, CA -- On a day that pitted the Citrus College Cross Country programs against the best in the South and one of the best teams in the State, the Owls had a historic day. Citrus posted its best finishes in recent memory at the 2014 SoCal Preview at Woodley Park, as the women were 9th out of 31 teams, and the men 13th out of 31 schools.
On the women's side, freshman Janet Meza-Avila paced Citrus' effort for the second week in a row. Meza-Avila crossed the finish line of the 5K course in a time of 20:14.9, good enough for 41stplace overall. Freshman Antonella Curinga came in just behind her finishing with a time of 20:26.1 and a 54th place finish. Freshman Yaiza Crawford, sophomore Jessica McMillen, and freshman Nataly Meza-Avila rounded out the scoring with finishes of 20:40.5, 20:58.8, and 21:30.0 respectively. The Owls' top five had an average time of 20:46.2, as they bested the previous best finish of an Owls squad of 17th place overall set in 2009.
For the men, freshman Daniel Hernandez-Cabrera once again led the pack. Hernandez-Cabrera finished 26th overall on the day, with a time of 20:57.3 on the 4-mile course. After that it was freshmen Andres Aparicio and Andrew Ballin. Aparicio finished 73rd overall with a time of 21:50.2, while Ballin was 83rd with a time of 21:54.7. Freshman Efren Alcala and sophomore Kelley Collins rounded out the scoring for Citrus, as Alcala finished 89th with a time of 22:01.0 and Collins 92nd with a time of 22:02.7. As a team, the Owls averaged a time of 21:56, and finished 13 spots higher than their next highest finish in the last nine years.
The Owls will take the next week off before resuming their 2014 slate on Friday October 3rd when they take part in the Western State Conference Preview at Kenneth Hahn Park in Los Angeles, with the first race set for a 3:15 PM start.
