Mt. SAC Cross-country faced off against several community colleges on Friday, Oct. 4 at the SoCal Regional Preview hosted by Chaffey Community College.
Originally set for Sept. 13, the meet was postponed due to local fires and poor air quality; however, the heat that SAC faced on Friday was not to be overlooked. The weather was 84°F with 50% humidity, making very sweaty and intense conditions to run in.
SAC came to the meet with a team smaller than expected, leaving out the top 7 runners with both the men’s and women’s teams due to them racing the previous weekend. SAC utilized their depth at this meet knowing they weren’t able to compete with their top men and women.
This course was a true-to-heart cross-country course with all types of terrain. Starting on the lower field at Chaffey’s sports complex, the course loops around and inside the soccer and baseball fields. It works its way up the hills of the sports complexes and up into the track. Then back down to the fields, finishing back on top of the hill at the track and football field.
The women’s 5k race was off to a strong start with sophomore Denise Villarreal taking the lead for the team. SAC was able to make good ground passing up other schools and focusing on pacing throughout the race.
Leading SAC’s women’s team to their ninth-place finish, Villarreal finished 20th with a time of 21:45.7. Alondra Morales-Espinosa and Kahlai Cruser were just tailing behind finishing with times of 22:10.2 and 22:39.5. Kaylah Morgan came in 80th with a time of 24:38.1 with Hellen Sanchez and Luna Rodriguez-Vigna coming in with times of 28:15.9 and 28:56.0.
“It was definitely a mentally challenging course with the heavy humidity, almost 90-degree weather, hilly terrain, and confusing turns,” Morales-Espinosa said. “Coming back from an injury, I’m just grateful to have had a race and a few workouts in before this one.”
The men’s team raced the 4-mile course shortly after with a large competition. The men started off hot with a lot of them being in the front packs. Some of the front runners for SAC faded behind, leaving some of our middle runners, taking the lead and staying strong. There were so many men at the meet that they had two races merging the two for scores and times.
One of the runners who took the lead for SAC was Michael Ortiz who finished 48th, with a time of 22:45.0.
“Racing against time will always push your limits,” Ortiz said when asked about what motivated him during the race given the hot humid climate.
The rest of the men’s team followed Ortiz’s lead with freshmen Ethan Mcgarry and Evan Mayo close behind with their times, 23:02.2 and 23:08.4. Freshman Jacob Mcquirk ran 23.27.8 with Arturo Camarena coming in at 23:27.8. Sophomore Jude Enriquez came in at 24:27.0.
The men’s team came in tenth place with a team time of 1:55:24 with the average mile being 5:48 and a finish order of 48-58-61-74-75-107-116. The women’s team came in ninth place with a total time of 1:59:29 with their average mile being 6:31 and a finish order of 26-35-43-93-135-140.
As of Sept. 30, Mt. SAC Cross-country is top in the state with the men’s team being ranked 1st in the league and the women’s team is ranked 2nd just below San Diego Mesa.
Although SAC didn’t get the results they hoped for, they did what they could, missing their top men and women. Their next meet is the Manny Bautista Invite, hosted by San Diego Mesa, on Friday, Oct. 11.
