Cougars Cross Country Teams Advance To Regional Championships
Canyons is sending both squads to the CCCAA Southern California Regionals for a sixth straight season after a strong showing at WSC Finals.
By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director
San Luis Obispo, Calif. —Both College of the Canyons cross country teams are heading back to the postseason after a strong outing at the 2019 Western State Conference (WSC) Finals hosted by Cuesta College on Friday.
Canyons will send both squads to the Southern California Regional Championship meet for a sixth straight season after both teams posted top-five finishes on the course at Fairbanks Park.
COC's men's team finished fourth, just three points out of third place, with a score of 107 on the four-mile course. Glendale College (43) won the event followed by Moorpark College (92), and third place Bakersfield College (105). The Cougars outpaced fifth place West L.A. (122) and Oxnard (134) in sixth.
Freshman David Salazar was the Cougars' top finisher at a time of 22:39.6, good for fourth place in the field of 86 individual runners. Mathew Liebman (23:09.2) was 12th overall and Tarek Khezri (24:14.6) was 26th to represent the team's top scores.
Mauricio Abrego (25:17.6) in 37th and Brannon Barber (25:39.5) in 41st also scored for Canyons.
Brandon Lucas (52nd/26:35) and Daniel Lazo (83rd/31:52) also competed but did not score for the Cougars.
Freshman Diana Perez turned in the top time on the women's side, clocking in at 21:56 on the 5K course to finish 11th in the field of 74.
Paris Camacho was not far behind at 22:37.5 to cross the finish line in 15th. Sarah Zumudio checked in at 23:10.3 for a 21st place result, while Lauren Franco was 24th at 23:33.5.
Megan Carbajal was 57th overall in the final scoring spot at 28:49.5.
Those times placed Canyons fifth in the team standings with 108 event points. Glendale (28) also won the women's event followed by Oxnard College (83), Ventura College (91), host Cuesta (94) in the top five spots.
Canyons now moves on to the CCCAA Southern California Regional Championships on Nov. 8 at Mission Bay Park.
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.