Canyons Cross Country Makes History at Mt. SAC Invite
Cougars run away with the event's 'sweepstakes' title as the program with the best men's and women's overall performance for a second consecutive year.
The College of the Canyons cross country program turned in a historic performance at last week's 68th Annual Mt. SAC Invitational, with the women's team winning the team title for the first time in school history and the men's team taking second place.
The Cougars also ran away with the event's 'sweepstakes' title as the program with the best men's and women's overall performance for a second consecutive year — and second time in school history.
The 2014 Mt. SAC sweepstakes title COC won last season (men's first place/women's third place) was the first in the history of the program.
The Mt. SAC Invite, which annually attracts more than 500 runners from two-dozen schools around the state, was held on Friday, Oct. 16, in Walnut.
On the women's side COC won the event with a team score of 36, to best second place Hartnell College (81) and host Mt. SAC (102).
Additionally, Canyons saw its top five runners each place in the top-15. Freshman Jessica Ruiz turned in another strong performance, placing fourth with a time of 18:22 on the three-mile course. COC sophomore Lexi Whitman was the next Cougar to cross the finish line, taking sixth place with a time of 18:45.
Not far behind were freshman Chelsea Wells with an eighth place mark of 18:56, and sophomore Amanda De Jesus in ninth place at 19:00. Lizeth Flores rounded out the Canyons top-five in 15th place at 19:31.
The second place team performance turned in by the men's team was highlighted by the second place individual finish of COC sophomore Ethan Walker who posted a time of 20:44 on the four-mile course. Walker has now finished in the top-two at three events this season.
COC sophomores Joseph Rosales (21:25) and Jason Hillquist (21:30) finished 12th and 13th respectively.
Also included in the Canyons top-five were freshman Alejandro Bernal's time of 21:38 to take 15th and fellow freshman Nick Liebmann's 16th place time of 21:41.
As a team, COC's 57 points trailed only Mt. SAC's first place total of 37. Hartnell took third place with 83 points.
Canyons will next participate in the Western State Conference (WSC) Finals on Friday, at Legg Lake Park in Whittier.
Heading into the conference finals the men's team is currently ranked No. 4 in Southern California, with the women's team ranked No. 2.