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Posted: Oct 26, 2014

Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Move on to SoCals

Freshmen Andrew Ballin and Janet Meza-Avila helped lead both the men's and women's cross country teams into 4th and 5th place finishes at the 2014 Western State Conference Championships. Photos Courtesy of Ventura College Athletics
Freshmen Andrew Ballin and Janet Meza-Avila helped lead both the men's and women's cross country teams into 4th and 5th place finishes at the 2014 Western State Conference Championships. Photos Courtesy of Ventura College Athletics
Results

Ventura, CA -- For the first time since 2006, the Citrus College Men's and Women's Cross Country teams have both advanced to the Southern California Championships. The Owls will be there in two weeks thanks to their performance at the 2014 Western State Conference Championships on Friday where the men finished 4th and the women 5th.

The women kicked things off at Arroyo Verde Park. Freshman Antonella Curinga retained her top spot among the Owl runners, finishing in 18th place overall with a time of 22:16.46. Freshman Janet Meza-Avila and sophomore Jessica McMillen followed close by in 27th (22:50.23) and 29th (23:02.92) respectively. Freshman Paige Peterson continued her recent strong racing with a 35th place finish (23:24.18).

After that it was freshmen Nataly Meza (23:48.76), Yaiza Crawford (23:56.53), and Lezly Morales (24:55.50) who rounded out the scoring effort by the Owls with 41st, 43rd, and 58th place finishes respectively. As a team, the Owls finished in 5th place with 144 total points, just edging Santa Barbara City College who also finished with 144 points, and finishing just seven points back of fourth place Ventura.

On the men's side, freshman Daniel Hernandez-Cabrera continued his strong season, finishing 9th overall with a time of 22:31.22. Freshman Andrew Ballin came through in a big way, with his best race of the year, finishing 15th overall (23:00.75), while sophomore Diego Lopez finished seconds behind him in 22nd place (23:21.39). After that it was a quartet of freshman for Citrus. Andres Aparicio finished in 34th (23:51.57), while Emmanuel Mercado crossed the finish line in 43rd (24:03.13). Luis Arriaga was steps behind him in 44th place (24:05.16), with Efren Alcala Jr. rounding out the scoring in 48th place (24:15.11).

As a team, the Owls finished with 122 points, 10 points clear of fifth place Santa Barbara. The men posted a total team time of 1:56.48.06 with an average of 23:22.73.

With the finish of Friday's race the 2014 regular season officially comes to a close. The Owls will continue on though on Friday November 7th for the 2014 Southern California Championships in Woodley Park in Van Nuys. The women are scheduled for a 10:00 AM start, while the men should begin at 11:00 AM.