SBCC?s Ian Roberts took the lead in the fourth mile on Thursday and went on to capture the individual men?s title in the WSC Cross Country Championships at College Park in Oxnard.
SBCC’s Ian Robers won the WSC Cross Country Championship.
Roberts covered the 4-mile course in 20:32, beating the runner-up, Rodrigo Ornelas of Canyons, by eight seconds. He?s the first SBCC runner to win a WSC title since Curly Guillen in 2001.
Alex Heuchert was sixth for the Vaqueros in the 127-man field in 21:14, Martin Montes took ninth (21:27) and Zeph Alva was 29th (22:13).
It was the second straight win for Roberts, a sophomore from Ventura High who also won the SBCC Invitational on Oct. 11.
?It was a flat course but deceptively slow with lots of turns,? said SBCC coach Scott Fickerson. ?Ian ran with the pack and then broke away somewhere in the fourth mile.?
The Vaqueros placed third with 86 points and easily qualified for the Southern Cal Championships on Nov. 8 in Saugus. Canyons won the men?s meet with 43 points and Glendale was second at 49.
Nicole Bartlett topped the SBCC women with a personal-best of 19:46 for 10th place in the 5K race, which featured 128 runners. Katie Huntington was 23rd in 20:17 and Alexa Sanchez placed 35th in 20:32.
Rachel Naumann of Moorpark won the women?s race in 18:43.
Glendale took the team title with 56 points. Santa Barbara grabbed the eighth and final berth in the So Cal meet with 172 points, edging L.A. Valley by two points.
?It was a challenge, going from two difficult courses to a very flat course,? said Fickerson of the women?s race. ?Nicole, who?s a 1500 runner, responded very well.
?Qualifying for the So Cal meet was our No. 1 goal and I expect that we?ll bounce back and run much better in two weeks.?
WSC Championships
At College Park
Oxnard College
MEN
Team (12 teams, 7 advance) — 1, Canyons 43. 2, Glendale 49. 3, SBCC 86. 4, Cuesta 113.
Individual (4 miles, 127 finishers) ? 1, Ian Roberts, SBCC, 20:32. 2, Rodrigo Ornelas, Canyons, 20:40.
SBCC runners — 1, Roberts 20:32. 6, Alex Heuchert 21:14. 13, Martin Montes 21:27. 29, Zeph Alva 22:13. 38, Brian Santiago 22:27. 49, Andy Hernandez 22:48. 73, Octavio Magdaleno 23:43.
WOMEN
Team (14 teams, 8 advance) — 1, Glendale 56. 2, Moorpark 105. 3, Canyons 110. 8, SBCC 172.
Individual (5K, 128 finishers) ? 1, Rachel Neumann, Moorpark, 18:43.
SBCC runners — 10, Nicole Bartlett 19:46. 23, Katie Huntington 20:17. 35, Alexa Sanchez 20:32. 40, Mia Owens 20:41. 67, Dana Grevenkamp 21:45. 104, Elethea Davies 24:24. 118, Rachel Zook 26:30.
