Canyons Cross Country Continues to Run Near the Top
By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director
HUNTINGTON BEACH — College of the Canyons returned from the Golden West Central Park Classic in high spirits on Friday, with the Cougars women's team finishing runner-up and the men's team taking the tenth spot at the meet that attracted the top cross country programs from across the region.
The Lady Cougars entered the event as the No. 3 ranked team in the region and did everything they could to improve on that mark, trailing only meet winner Cerritos College (75). Canyons (106) trailed Cerritos by just five second in total time (1:47.24 vs. 1:47.19) while sharing a near identical average time (21:28 vs. 21.27) across each squad's five scoring runners.
Saddleback College (113) and Riverside City College (113) shared the No. 3 spot with Bakersfield College (136) in the fifth position.
COC freshman Victoria Jamison (19:21.8) continued to dazzle, placing fifth in the field of 141 runners to lead the way. She has finished no worse than fifth in the field when running at a community college event this season.
Alyssa Arriaga (21:12) placed 13th in the field in what was another strong day for the freshman. Fellow freshman Lilianna Moreira (21:36.7) finished the event 23rd on the 5K course to claim her spot at the head of the pack
Sophomores Katelyn Catu (22:14.2) and Emily Fairbanks (22:54.9) provided a steady presence for Canyons, with Catu in 34th place and Fairbanks slotted 54th to round out the Lady Cougars' scoring.
COC's men's team was led by sophomore Nathaniel Wilkinson (21:29.2) who posted a season-best finish in 18th place. He was followed by sophomore Jack Eaton (21:51.4) who ended the four-mile race 31st in the field of 277 runners.
Canyons freshman Nathan Parras (22:26.5) representing the Cougars' third scoring runner in 60th place
Musa Rahman (121st/23:55.3) and Chris An (158th/25:01.9) rounded out COC's top five
Cerritos (83) won the men's meet followed by Riverside City (96) and San Bernardino Valley College (97), Bakersfield (121) and Orange Coast College (130) in the team standings.
El Camino College (179), Glendale College (189), Cuyamaca College (198), Saddleback College (271) and Canyons (324) represented slots 5 through 10.
COC was also third amongst Western State Conference (WSC) programs.
Canyons will next run at the 3C2A Southern California Preview at Chaffey College on Oct. 4. That meet had originally been scheduled for Sept. 13 but had to be postponed due to wildfires in the area
From there, the Cougars will compete at the Mt, San Antonio College Invitational on Oct. 18 as the final tune up before the WSC Championships on Oct. 25.
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 X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.