Men's Team Led by Ornelas, Women Follow Dowell at Western State Conference Preview
The College of the Canyons men’s cross country teams finished in second place, while the women’s team came in fourth place at the Western State Conference Preview Meet in Ventura on Friday afternoon.
VENTURA, Calif. – The College of the Canyons men's cross country teams finished in second place, while the women's team came in fourth place at the Western State Conference Preview Meet in Ventura on Friday afternoon.
COC's Rodrigo Ornelas won the individual title in the men's race to lead four Cougars who finished in the top 20. The win marks the third time this season that Ornelas has crossed the finish line in the top spot.
The men's team notched 47 points and finished behind defending conference champion Glendale College, who turned in 24 points. Santa Barbara City College came in third place with 100 points in the 12-team race.
Ornelas turned in a 22:12.63 to win the race easily, as Glendale's first runner came in nine seconds after the newcomer. Freshman Alex Johnson was the next Cougar to cross the line in a time of 23:06.55, good for 8th place. A few seconds later, freshman Anthony Janaslani finished in 10th (23:12.31), followed by sophomore Chase Wheeler who crossed the line in 23:29.08, good for 13th place.
Freshmen Robert Pion (23:31.26), Lyvan Friend (24:00.91) and Joel Estrada (24:09.90) rounded out the scoring for COC.
On the women's side, the Cougars were led by freshman Dominique Dowell who came in seventh place and led three women who finished in the top 20. The Cougars tallied 93 points, behind first-place Glendale (58 points) and second-place Moorpark (71 points).
Dowell notched a time of 22:08.87 for her seventh-place finish. Freshman Yesenia Razo came in 11th place with a time of 22:16.62 and Diana Barrera was the 17th runner to cross the line with a time of 22:54.10.