By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

BAKERSFIELD — College of the Canyons will continue its season at the state championship meet in Fresno later this month after a strong run at the CCCAA Southern California Championships in Bakersfield on Friday. 

COC sophomore Milca Osorio was the top performer for a Cougars squad that entered the meet ranked seventh in the region and later slotted into the same spot in the meet's team standings. 

Osorio finished 14th in the field of 137 runners representing 18 schools with a personal record time of 18:54.1 on the 5K course at Kern County Soccer Park. That result placed Osorio sixth among runners from the Western State Conference (WSC).

Sophomore Maylani Perez was clocked at 20:33.7 to finish 51st with teammate Joy Nakazawa close behind in 53rd at 20:38.9.

COC freshman Emily Cruz (69th/21:09.6) and sophomore Trinity Winslow (88th/22:08.6) were the final scorers for the Cougars.

Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC) won the 2022 CCCAA Women's Cross Country Southern California Regional Championship with a low 56 points. San Diego Mesa (82) and host Bakersfield (145) took the next two spots with Glendale College (147) close behind in fourth. El Camino (158) and Cerritos College (185) were the only other teams to finish ahead of Canyons. 

On the men's side it was Sam Regez (84th/22:03.6) and Jerome Hughes (98th/22:28.6) leading a Canyons team that finished the meet 19th among the 28 participating schools.

Regez' time qualified him to compete as an individual at the state championship meet.

Cesar Tobar (117th/23:04.9), Nathan Guzman (120th/23:09.9) and Elijah Dixon (127th/23:21.7) were next to finish the four-mile course.

San Diego Mesa won the 2022 CCCAA Men's Cross Country Southern California Regional Championship with a score of 31, followed by Mt. SAC (74) and second just ahead of Riverside City College (82).

Canyons will now have two weeks to prep for the CCCAA Cross Country State Championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 19 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

COC's women's team is competing at the state championships for the third straight season (2019, 2021, 2022) and eighth time in program history (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022). 

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.