Omar Padilla ran a season-best 21:21 for 47th place on Wednesday and Ben Garland took 50th in 21:23, leading the SBCC men to 14th place in the Southern Cal Cross Country Championships at Rancho Cucamonga.
The Vaqueros earned the 14th and final qualifying berth (out of 28 schools) to the State Championships. The state meet is Nov. 19 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Matt Bailey placed 89th out of 197 runners in the 4-mile trek on a rainy day at Guasti Park.
“We had personal bests of a minute per man,” noted coach Scott Fickerson. “We were aggressive from the start and stayed tenacious all the way to the line. We did what we had to do to qualify.”
It’s the first time in Fickerson’s four year that his men have qualified for state. San Bernardino Valley edged L.A. Trade Tech 68-75 for the men’s title.
SBCC placed 19th in the women’s 5K race, led by Cecilia Instebo (52nd, 19:40), Kelly Mayer (62nd, 19:51) and Harley Arce (80th, 20:12). Those three all qualified for state as individuals.
Glendale won the women’s crown with 37 points and Karen Rosas of Glendale was the individual champ in 17:54.
“Our entire squad ran well, this was our fastest time by four minutes,” Fickerson noted. “We still might get an at-large team invitation to the state meet, depending on how many teams qualify from the North.”
Last year, the top 18 teams got in from Southern Cal due to a smaller number of qualifiers in the North.
Southern Cal
Championships
At Rancho Cucamonga
Men
Team (28 schools, 14 advance to state) — 1, San Bernardino Valley 68. 2, L.A. Trade Tech 75. Other: 14, SBCC 419.
Individual (4 miles) — 1, Daniel Herrera, Cerritos, 19:58.
SBCC runners — 47, Omar Padilla 21:21. 50, Ben Garland 21:23. 89, Matt Bailey 21:52. 117, Chino Garnica 22:28. 128, Nery Gonzalez 22:48. 165, Dennis Jonsson 23:51. 168, Jameson Leighton 23:54.
Women
Team (28 schools, 14 advance to state) — 1, Glendale 27. 2, Orange Coast 100. Others: 19, SBCC 532.
Individual (5K) — 1, Karen Rosas, Glendale, 17:54.
SBCC runners — 52, Cecilia Instebo 19:40. 62, Kelly Mayer 19:51. 80, Harley Arce 20:12. 179, Jenny Paul 23:30. 182, Ashleigh Giacomotti 23:36. 193, Rita Beltran 25:29.
