Harriers Both Finish 3rd at BC
The Pirates' men's and women's cross country teams traveled to the Central Valley for the annual Bakersfield Cross Country Invitational held at Kern Soccer Park on Friday with both teams coming away with third place finishes and encouraging performances. Edwin Herrera ran in the No. 1 spot for the first time this season for the men, placing 12th overall while Sabrina Sewell finished fourth overall in her customary No. 1 spot for the VC women.
CROSS COUNTRY: The Pirates' men's and women's cross country teams traveled to the Central Valley for the annual Bakersfield Cross Country Invitational held at Kern Soccer Park on Friday with both teams coming away with third place finishes and encouraging performances. Edwin Herrera ran in the No. 1 spot for the first time this season for the men, placing 12th overall while Sabrina Sewell finished fourth overall in her customary No. 1 spot for the VC women.
The men's team placed third behind College of the Sequoias (1st) from the Northern California region and Western State Conference foe Canyons (2nd). Herrera ran a personal best of 22:00 for the rolling 4-mile course. Anthony Rivas (18th), Jaime Luna (20th), Luis Cruz (21st), and Alex Miron (25th) all scored medals rounding out the top five. Thomas Garcia (29th), Matthew Medina (30th), and Richard Bone all had seasonal bests.
"This was a good effort by the men's squad," said head coach Tony Veney. "We were able to put Bakersfield in our rear view mirror for the first time this year and that bodes well as we try to qualify for Southern Cals in four weeks."
The Pirate women also placed third, but were beaten by WSC rivals Canyons (1st) and Bakersfield (2nd). Sabrina Sewell (4th) scored a massive two minute best while Brittany Gonzalez (7th), Brigitte Kiesewetter (12th), Erica Hernandez (17th), and Maria Villalobos (18th) rounded out the top five. As with the men, they all scored medals. Alexi Tolosa and Meryem Nafi are both making better contributions to the top seven every week.
"We lost to Bakersfield by a significant score two weeks ago but the young women scrapped and dug deep cutting a deficit of over a minute down to 22 seconds. That's progress," said coach Veney. "I have noticed the young people have been applying more and more effort in practice and it is translating to better performances on race day."
The Pirates next meet is a home contest as they host the WSC Preview on Friday Oct. 4. The women will race at 3:30 and the men will follow at 4:15 at Ventura's Arroyo Verde Park.