Cougars Cross Country Teams Post Qualifying Runs at SoCal Championships

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

LONG BEACH — College of the Canyons is sending both its men's and women's cross country teams to the State Championship meet after both squads ran to qualifying results at the 3C2A Southern California Championships on Friday.

COC hasn't seen both its men's and women's team qualify for the 3C2A State Championship since the 2019 season.  

The Lady Cougars squad finished 12th in the field of 23 schools at El Dorado Park in Long Beach. San Diego Mesa was crowned the SoCal Regional Champion 

Freshman Katelyn Catu was 26th with a time of 19:19.9 on the 5K course. Kaiya Cortinas was 49th in the field of 158 runners at a pace of 20:27.7. Emily Cruz was the next to place finishing the course at 20:51.7 for 62nd place. Emily Valdez (96th/22:28.9) and Emily Fairbanks (101st/22:58) added the final marks for the Canyons tally.

The Cougars' men's side finished 15th among the 27 entered schools. Mt. San Antonio College (40) narrowly won the men's event ahead of San Diego Mesa (43).

Sophomore Cesar Tobar finished the four-mile course at 21:52.8 to finish 73rd and lead Canyons on the day. Sam Regez was just a few steps behind in 81st with his trot at 21:57.9 with Nathaniel Wilkinson keeping that pace at 22:04, good for 83rd. Jerome Hughes (95th/22:20.6) and Jack Eaton (110th/22:50.9) were the final runners to score for COC.

Fernando Osorio (123rd/23:10.2) and Juan Jimenez-Rojas (161st/25:36.8) also ran for the Cougars but did not count towards the team's final score.

Canyons will now set its sights on another strong run at the 3C2A State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, Nov. 18.

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.