Rodrigo Ornelas Leads Men's Team To Fourth Place; Dominique Dowell Helps Women Come in Seventh at Southern California Preview

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - The College of the Canyons cross country program played host to this year's 2013 Southern California Preview on Friday morning at Central Park and the men finished in fourth place with 119 points and the women completed the race in seventh place with 249 points.

In the men's race, 30 teams participated in the race and 192 student-athletes ran in the four-mile race, while on the women's side, 200 athletes ran and 30 teams participated. The Southern California Preview acts as a pre-cursor to the Southern California Championships, which will also be hosted by College of the Canyons at Central Park on Friday, Nov. 8. 

The men's team was led by freshman Rodrigo Ornelas who turned in a fourth-place finish in a time of 21:12.8. He was the first freshman to cross the finish line, while also being the first runner from a Southern California team to complete the race, behind the top-three finishers who were from Northern California's American River College. Also finishing in the top-10 for COC was freshman Robert Pion, who came in three runners later in seventh place in 21:32.4. 

Freshman Alex Johnson turned in a top-30 finish with his time of 22:17.8, crossing the line in 27th place overall. Freshmen Joel Estrada and Anthony Janaslani came in together in 39th and 42nd place, respectively, with times of 22:44.4 and 22:52.4. Sophomore Chase Wheeler turned in a time of 23:38.6 for 78th place and freshman Lyvan Friend came in two runners later in 80th place with a time of 23:43.6, to round out COC's scoring. 

Northern California team American River claimed first place in the men's race with 19 points, followed by Cerritos (95 points), Glendale (100) in third, and COC (119) in fourth place. 

The Cougar ladies finished the morning in seventh place with 249 points. Freshman Dominique Dowell clocked in at 20:33.0, good for 23rd place. Freshman Diana Barrera came in second for the Cougars in 20:57.8, for 32nd place. Freshman Yesenia Razo rounded out COC's top-50 finishes in 47th place in a time of 21:09.9.

Sophomore Kasey Cass and freshmam Nicole Casillas finished in 77th and 84th, respectively. Cass turned in a time of 21:43.9, while Casillas clocked a 21:50.5. Freshman Amanda Meredith came in 137th place in 23:02.2 and freshman Stephanie Marin crossed the finish line in 26:32.9 to come in 179th, to round out COC's scoring. 

Orange Coast won the event with 40 points, followed by Glendale with 99 points and Moorpark took third place with 152 points. 

The Cougars will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 21 as they run in the Mustang Challenge, hosted by The Master's College at Central Park, where the team will run against four-year schools.