Cougars Cross Country Opens Season at Oxnard Invite, Men Take Third
COC's men's team was led by freshman David Salazar's 12th place time of 22:30.05. The Lady Cougars finished fifth at the event.
By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director
College of the Canyons cross country turned in a pair of top-five team finishes at the season-opening Oxnard College Invitational on Friday, with the men's squad running to third place honors and the women's lineup taking fifth overall.
COC entered eight runners in the four-mile men's race with freshman David Salazar leading the pack at a time of 22:30.05, good for 12th overall in the field of 63 entries.
Freshman Mathew Liebman was next to finish with a 15th place time of 22:47.01. He was followed closely by freshman Tarek Khezri (23:00.2) in 18th and sophomore Mauricio Abrego (23:03.07) in 19th. Frosh Edgar Pacheco (23:42.09) rounded out the scoring with a 23rd place run.
Canyons finished the men's event with 67 race points to trail runner-up Bakersfield College (65) and first place Glendale College (20).
Sophomore Brannon Barber (25th/23:53.07), freshman Brandon Lucas (39th/25:05) and freshman Anthony Bautista (41st/25:15.8) also competed for the Cougars but did not factor into the team scoring.
COC's women's team was led by freshman Diana Perez' time of 20:42 on the 5K course, good for eleventh in the field of 57.
Freshman Paris Camacho took 14th overall at a pace of 21:30.09, with Sarah Zumudio just a few spots back in 18th place at a mark of 21:56.5.
Lauren Franco (42nd/25:57.5) and Megan Carbajal (49th/27:08) also scored for Canyons.
Glendale (24) won the event, followed by Ventura College (59), Moorpark College (82), host Oxnard (97) and fifth-place COC (117). Allan Hancock (172) and Bakersfield (177) also competed at the event which included only Western State Conference (WSC) schools.
Full race results are included here.
Canyons will next run at the Ventura Invitational scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30, at Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura.
Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.