Cross Country: Owls Take On Western State Conference Field in El Monte

Citrus Cross Country took to the trail Friday in the Western State Conference Preview at Legg Lake in El Monte. The race featured teams from across the competitive conference, and some of the top runners in the state. 

Having taken a couple of weeks off to train and prepare, the Owls hit the ground ready to improve on its previous races. 

Assistant Coach Diego Garcia said, "The men's team today came in after a hard two weeks of practice ready to redeem themselves after the tough time they had at SoCal Preview in San Diego. Whether it was the fact that they were close to home or that many of them had fans (family/friends) cheering for them all of them came into todays race with a fire in their bellies. Four mighty owls came out with big PR's! Eduardo Castillo crossed the line first for the owls finishing with a time of 22:53 snagging a top 50 finish (45th). Joseph Cruz (58th), Nick Helgeson (64th), and Hin Wu(73rd) finished 23:57, 24:57, and 26:34 respectably. Nico Jung had a massive 3 minute PR today after joining the team two months ago. 

For the Women's race, Coach Garcia added, "Christina Rasmus and Kayla Jimenez once again take the line for the lady owls holding down the fort while others battle with injuries. Christina Cloud continues to be on a hot streak for the lady Owls as she came into today's race (her second ever) with a PR of 26:42. After battling for 3 long miles Cloud finished with a time of 23:54 snagging her 47th in the race. Kayla Jimenez didn't let Cloud take all the spotlight as she was able to PR by over 2 minutes running 25:47 which was able to secure 57th for her."

The Owls run again Friday at the Moorpark Invitational. The race is the last tune-up before Conference Finals on the 25th in San Luis Obispo.  

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