The College of the Canyons cross country program returned from Saturday's Southern California Preview in high spirits, after the women's team posted a third place finish and the men's team followed up that effort with a 14th place mark.

The 14th place finish for the men's team came amidst a field of 32 schools and 317 individual runners on the four-mile course.

COC sophomore Jake Higdon led the Cougars with a time of 21:49 to take 41st place. 

Christopher Ochoa (22:32.7) in 86th and Cody Roelofson (23:05.5) were the next fastest to cross the line for Canyons.

Freshman Stephanie Martinez turned in a time of 19:13.1 on the women's 5K course to place seventh in the field of 244 individual runners, representing 31 schools.

Sophomore Jessica Ruiz was the next to finish for Canyons with her 14th place time of 19:44.9.

Freshman Díani Ellis (20:13.8) in 30th place, sophomore Chelsea Wells in 70th (21:41.3) and freshman Celeste Gonzalez (22:24.7) in 103rd all scored for Canyons. 

As a team, the Cougars finished behind second place Mt. SAC (146) and first place Glendale College (27).

Canyons will next compete at the Golden West Invitational, being held at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Sept. 23, at Central Park in Huntington Beach.

—Jesse Munoz/COC Sports Information Office