Canyons Cross Country Previews Woodward Park at Fresno Invite
The COC women’s team ran to a third place finish, while men's team takes 10th.
The College of the Canyons cross country program competed at the annual Fresno Invitational on Saturday, with the Cougars getting a preview of the course at Woodward Park, which will serve as the site of the state championship meet later this fall.
The COC women's team ran to a third place finish on the 5K course, paced by strong times from sophomore Jessica Ruiz (19:02.3) who placed fifth overall and freshman Stephanie Martinez (19:08.3) who was seventh among the field of 149 runners representing 17 schools.
Díani Ellis (20:17.4) finished 21st, with Taylor Hernandez (20:50.4) and Celine Whitman (20:57.3) crossing the line in 33rd and 34th place, respectively.
COC's 100 points trailed second place Mt. SAC (92 points) and event champion Glendale College (28 points).
The men's team put together a 10th place finish in the field of 18 teams which featured 199 individual runners.
For the third time in as many weeks, sophomore Jake Higdon (22:24) posted the top time for COC to finish in 43rd place on the 8,000m course.
Freshman Garrett Noltemeyer (22:27.2) was just a few steps behind in 44th place.
Sean Grey-Tunkl (23:41) in 86th, Cody Roelofson (23:45.8) in 90th and Joshua Tan (24:05.7) in 111th rounded out the Canyons top five.
Canyons will next race in the SoCal Preview at 11 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, at Irvine Regional Park.