Men’s Cross Country Team Wins Again, Women Place 3rd at Golden West

Huntington Beach, Calif. — The College of the Canyons men's and women's cross country teams completed another successful meet at Friday's Golden West Central Park Classic hosted by Golden West College.

The men's team cruised to victory once again, led by first place finisher Rodrigo Ornelas' time of 20:05.9 on the four-mile course. However, Canyons had six runners finish in the top 14 among the field of nearly 200 runners.

Sophomore Grant Stromberg finished the race in fourth place with a time of 20:15.7, while Ethan Walker (20:17.7), Ashton Garcia (20:29.6), Jason Hilquist (20:38.2) and Robert Pion (20:41.5) placed 7th, 9th, 13th and 14th respectively.

Those times gave Canyons a combined score of 34 points and the first place finish, placing ahead of Mt. SAC (82 points) and Saddleback College (114 points).

The women's cross country team finished the meet in third place (61 points), trailing just Glendale College (49 points) and meet winner Glendale College (49 points).

COC freshman Shalyn Mabritto led the Cougars with a fifth place time of 18:34.9 on the 5K course, while sophomore Dominique Dowell was Canyons' second finisher with a time of 18:51.1, good for seventh place.

Amanda DeJesus (19:05) would finish not far behind in twelfth place, with Alexandra Whitman (19:19) and Lizeth Flores (19:35.7) placing 16th and 21st respectively.

The men's cross country team has now won three team titles this year, placing first at the Ventura College Invite, Fresno Invite and Golden West Central Park Classic. In addition, Canyons finished second at the So Cal Preview on Sept. 19.

The women's team has won team titles at both the Ventura College Invite and Fresno Invite, finishing second at the So Cal Preview and third at the Golden West Classic.

Both teams will next compete in the Western State Conference (WSC) Preview at Kenneth Hahn Park in Los Angeles, at 3 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 3.