Cecilia Instebo finished second for the fourth straight meet on Tuesday, leading SBCC’s women to third place in the WSC Cross Country Championships at Shoreline Park.
Instebo covered the 5K course that starts and goes 1,000 yards on Leadbetter Beach in 20:21. It was the third-fastest time in course history. Nicole Bartlett was 16th in 22:26, Sara Smith took 21st and Nicole Mozillo was 23rd in the 13-team field.
Grace Graham-Zamudio of Glendale broke her own course record with a 19:54 clocking.
Glendale won the race with 38 points, followed by Moorpark (46) and SBCC (88). The top eight teams advanced to the Southern Cal Championships on Nov. 3 in Costa Mesa.
“Our goal was a top-three finish and we accomplished that,” said coach Scott Fickerson. “This is our first step toward the state championship. It was great to see Cecilia continue her excellent season with yet another 2nd-place finish, especially moving up another spot on the all-time list.
“Mia Owens had a really outstanding race, running nearly a minute faster than her time at the SBCC Invitational (10 days ago) and improving 10 spots from her finish at the WSC Preview Meet three weeks ago.”
In the men’s 4-mile race, SBCC’s Omar Padilla Lopez was 10th in 23:11 and Ian Roberts placed 12th in 23:17. Angel Alcantar of L.A. Valley was the winner in 22:22.
Glendale beat Valley 24-63 for the men’s title. SBCC was fourth at 97 and also earned a trip to the Southern Cal Championships.
“The men ran really well today,” Fickerson noted. “We closed on Cuesta, trimming a 20-point gap from the WSC Preview to five points. We’ll make a run at them at the So Cal Championships.
“This was Omar’s first time as our #1 runner, so that was great to see and Nery (Gonzalez, 30th place) really ran well as our #3 man.”
RESULTS
Women
Team (13 schools) — 1, Glendale 38. 2, Moorpark 46. 3, SBCC 88. 4, Ventura 103. 5, Bakersfield 147. 6, Oxnard 180. 7, Cuesta 183. 8, Santa Monica 240.
Individual (5K) — 1, Grace Graham-Zamudio, Glendale, 19:54 (breaks her own course record). 2, Cecilia Instebo, SBCC, 20:21 (#3 all-time). Other SBCC results — 16, Nicole Bartlett 22:26. 21, Sara Smith 23:03. 23, Nicole Mozillo 23:10. 27, Mia Owns 23:38. 28, Dean Roell 23:40. 47, Sarah Gonzalez 24:49.Men
Team (top 6 advance to So Cal) — 1, Glendale 24. 2, L.A. Valley 63. 3, Cuesta 92. 4, SBCC 97. 5, Santa Monica 121. 6, Canyons 152.
Individual (4 miles) — 1, Angel Alcantar, L.A. Valley, 22:22. SBCC results — 10, Omar Padilla Lopez 23:11. 12, Ian Roberts 23:17. 30, Nery Gonzalez 24:33. 31, Marcial Ordaz 24:38. 35, Jamison Leighton 24:55. 68, Andy Hernandez 27:22. 77, Kenny Drake 28:39.
