Canyons Men's Team Takes Third at BC Invitational

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — College of the Canyons freshman David Salazar ran to a third place result, with teammate Tarek Khezri a few paces behind in fourth, in leading the Cougars men's team to third in the team standings at last Friday's Bakersfield College Invitational.

Salazar posted a time of 22:16 with Khezri right on his tail at 22:17. Bryan Gaxiola of Bakersfield won the four-mile event at a time of 21:38.

They were followed by sophomore Mauricio Abrego in the 13th spot at 23:21. Sophomore Brannon Barber also had a strong run, finishing in 19th place at 23:40. Anthony Bautista was the fifth to score for COC in 40th place after being clocked at 25:46.1.

Brandon Lucas (44th/26:18) and Daniel Lazo (57th/33:44) also competed for Canyons but did not factor into the team totals.

Bakersfield (30) won the event followed by runner-up San Diego (59) and third place Canyons (64). Cuesta (93), Ventura (131) and Porterville (College 158) also competed in the men's event. 

COC's women's squad only entered four runners in the 5K event, but had three finish within in the field's top-10 spots. 

Freshman Paris Camacho was the seventh place runner at a time of 22:02, followed closely by Sarah Zumudio (22:25) in eighth and Lauren Franco (22:40) in ninth. 

Jisselle Lomeli (25:10) was 18th in the field of 33 runners.

Ventura's Brieanna Tafoya won the women's event at a time of 19:12 which lifted the Pirates (23) to first in the team standings. Cuesta (37) followed in second place with Bakersfield (82) and Allan Hancock (84) rounding out the four-team field.

Canyons will get a closer look at its conference competition at the upcoming Western State Conference (WSC) Preview at Legg Lake in El Monte on Friday. First race is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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.