Cougars Run at State Championships to Conclude 2022 Campaign

By Mari Kneisel/COC Sports Information 

FRESNO — The College of the Canyons women's cross country team worked its way up to Fresno to compete in the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) State Championships for the eighth consecutive year. 

The women's team, consisting of sophomores Milca Osorio, Maylani Perez, Trinity Winslow and freshmen Emily Cruz and Joy Nakazawa, took 14th place in a field of 20 community college programs from across California.  

Osorio, Perez and Winslow saw the Woodward Park course last year at the 2021 State Championships, finishing ninth altogether, with the help of former teammate Danielle Salcedo taking the programs first individual state championship.  

This year, it was Osorio crossing the line first for Canyons on Saturday, and consistently throughout the season. She posted a time of 19:14.7 in her final cross country race as a Cougar to place 22nd out of 155 other runners. That was an improvement of last years' time (20:00.2) by nearly 45 seconds.

Perez (78th) finished her final cross country race with a time of 21:13.8 beating her 2021 recorded time (22:24.8) by over a minute. Cruz (86th) was only 16 seconds behind her at 21:29.4. 

Winslow (110th) found her way across the line about 30 seconds behind Cruz at a time of 22:06.5, with Nakazawa (120th) trailing close behind at 22:30.4.

Though the men's team did not qualify for the state championship meet, freshman Sam Regez competed individually for the Cougars. 

Regez finished the four-mile Woodward Park course in 22:19.5 as the 101st runner in a field of 176. 

Overall, Mt. San Antonio College took first and San Diego Mesa College took second in both the men's and women's divisions. Full results for both the men's and women's events can be found here. 

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.