COC Women's Cross Country Finishes First at SoCal Preview

The College of the Canyons cross country program had a successful day at the annual California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) SoCal Preview, with the women's team running to a first place finish and the men's team taking fifth place at the regional meet.

The event was held at Mission Bay Park in San Diego, and hosted by San Diego Mesa College.

The COC women's team put together a score of 70 on the 5K course to take first among the field of 24 schools and edge out second place Mt. SAC (88).

Glendale College (106) took third place with Riverside City College (135) and Cerritos College (169) rounding out the top five on the women's side.

Additionally, Canyons had three runners finish in the top-10 individually from the field of more then 175 runners.

Freshman Jessica Ruiz was the fifth place finisher for COC with a time of 19.25.19. Sophomore Alexandra Whitman placed eighth at 19:39.04, while Amanda De Jesus crossed the finish line just a few steps behind in ninth place at a mark of 19:41.77.

Sophomores Shalyn Mabritto (20:31.04) and Lizeth Flores (20:34.28) finished 28th and 29th, respectively, to round out the COC top five.

On the men's side, COC sophomore Ethan Walker finished in second place on the four-mile course with a time of 20:50.61.

Freshman Alejandro Bernal had the next best time at 21:29.37 to finish in 11th place and sophomore Jason Hillquist finished 23rd at a time of 21:46.28 among the field of more than 200 runners.

COC's fifth place team score of 153 ranked the Cougars behind American River College (86), Mt. SAC (97), Riverside City (130) and San Bernardino Valley (130).

Canyons will next compete in the Golden West College Invitational on Friday, Sept. 25, at Central Park in Huntington Beach.