Freshman Alberto Dolores (left) led the Men's effort, while freshman Giselle Vargas (right) had her best time of the year at the 2016 WSC Finals. Photos By: Alicia Longyear

Posted: Oct 21, 2016

Owls Close out Regular Season at WSC Championships; Await SoCal Finals Fate

Oxnard, CA - The Citrus College Men's and Women's Cross Country teams closed out their 2016 regular season on Friday afternoon at the 2016 Western State Conference Championships host by Oxnard College on their campus. The Women finished in a steady 10th place, while the men were 12th. The women's team and a few male individuals now wait to find out their fate next Sunday when the berths for the 2016 Southern California Championships will be announced.

On the men's side it was freshman Alberto Dolores who broke the tape first for the Owls, finishing in a respectable 47th place with a time of 22:52.24. Freshman Eric Perez was steps behind him in 67th place for a time of 23:39.78.

After that it was sophomore Julian Ramirez who closed out his regular season college career with a time of 24:12.74. Following Ramirez was freshman Watts Waddington who was 79th with a time of 24:12.79. Freshman Jose Mora would round out the scoring runs with a time of 25:02.86.

For the women, freshman Marissa Montoya paced the pack, cutting off 25 seconds from her beginning of the season mark on the exact same course for a 29th place finish with a time of 21:00.97. Freshman Giselle Vargas, who didn't run the first race of the year, put together one of her finest times of the year posting a mark of 21:20.76, good enough for 37th place individually.

Freshman Marlene Moreno, shaved nearly an entire minute off her race from the start of the year, to come in 46th place with a time of 21:45.06. Two more freshman would round out the scoring runs for the Owls, with freshmen Ruby Munoz (23:11.71) and Chien-Ju "Alice" Lin (24:26.48) placing 62nd and 69th respectively.

As a team, the Owls were right in the thick of things, with just 26 points separating them from 7th place Bakersfield College and their third straight Top 8 team performance. The 26 points was far fewer than the 64 points that separated Citrus from 11th place Santa Monica College.

The Owls will wait until the rest of Southern California finished up their conference championship season over the next week. Qualifiers for the 2016 Southern California Championships will be announced next Sunday evening.