Cougars Get Cross Country Season Underway at Moorpark Invite

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director  

MOORPARK — College of the Canyons started its 2022 campaign under scorching temperatures at the Moorpark College Invitational on Friday, with the men's team running to a fifth-place result and sophomore Milca Osorio turning in the top finish for the women's squad.

Osorio's time of 20:19.9 placed her fourth overall in the field of 41 runners from across Southern California. Her time trailed event winner Rain Gomez (19:51.8) of Bakersfield College and was roughly 16 seconds off the pace of runner-up status. 

Sophomore Maylani Perez, who was the only other COC entry for the women's race, finished 16th overall at a pace of 22:27.5 on the 5K course at Arroyo Vista Community Park.

Canyons did not factor into the team scoring which saw Bakersfield (37) win a narrow outcome ahead of California Lutheran University (38), which was also competing in the early season event. Oxnard College (60) was the next community college school to place with Citrus (101) next in fourth overall. 

COC freshman Sam Regez finished 12th overall in the field of 61 for the men's four-mile race at a time of 22:45.

Freshman Cesar Tobar was next for the Cougars at 23:41.4 to take 25th in the standings.

Elijah Dixon (25:09.8) and Isaac Wilkinson (25:15.4) finished 32nd and 33rd, respectively, and were followed by Juan Jimenez-Rojas (25:39.4) in the 38th spot to round out the Canyons scoring.

Fernando Osorio (26:59.5) was 46th overall but did not factor into team scoring.

Bakersfield won the men's race with 37 event points to sweep both sides of the meet. Moorpark (44) was runner-up ahead of Cal Lutheran (78), Santa Monica (80), Canyons (120), East L.A. (176) and Citrus (181).

The Cougars' men's team score was the first recorded since the state championship event held on Nov. 23, 2019. COC did not compete in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Canyons only entered individual runners and did not receive team scores. 

Canyons is next scheduled to compete at the Oxnard College Invitational on Friday, Sept. 9.

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.