With only three experienced runners on the men’s and women’s cross country teams, coach Scott Fickerson wants his squads to stay closely bunched.
“Both the men and women are equally balanced with no real standouts,” noted SBCC’s second-year head coach. “Our strategy this year will be to pack as closely together and as far forward in the field as possible.”
Fabrian Arellano, who competed two years ago, and Mark Moreno are the sophomores on the men’s side with Sarah Gustavsson of Sweden the lone returner for the women.
VIEW SBCC CROSS COUNTRY TEAM PAGE
Last year, the men placed 12th in the WSC Championships while the women were ninth and later earned an at-large berth to the Southern Cal Championships, finishing 22nd.
“I expect us to be better than last year’s squads based on early workouts,” Fickerson stated. “Ventura will be a good early indicator although we will probably not race a full women’s squad.
“With small squads, it is important for us to keep all runners healthy and try to keep our spread (1 through 5) as low as possible,” noted Fickerson, who added that Moreno and Erika Shaeffer are the early candidates to lead the men’s and women’s teams.
The SBCC Invitational, normally one of the big events of the season, has been moved from Saturday to Friday afternoon, Oct. 16, due to a conflict at Shoreline Park. The Invite drew 20 schools last year but Fickerson said he’ll be excited to get five in 2009.
“I expect the event to be very small as we conflict with Mt. SAC,” he explained. “That’s not new but Mt. SAC is hosting the Southern Cal Championsihps, so many teams that normally come to SBCC will travel to Mt. SAC in order to see the So Cal Championship course.”
Although there are many new faces, Fickerson has lofty goals.
“I hope that we can stay healthy, place higher than last year’s squads, qualify both teams to the So Cal Championships out of the WSC and if all goes really well, get the teams to the State Championships as well,” he said.
