SBCC sophomore Bradley Apodaca took third and freshman Alex Ramirez placed fifth on Friday in the season-opening Tour de Cuesta men’s cross country race. Yuliana Garibay’s 14th-place result led the women.
Apodaca covered the four-mile course in 22:58 while Ramirez clocked 23:08. Adam Grimmett was 10th in 23:35. Sean McDermott of Cuesta was the winner in 22:10. Apodaca is a Santa Barbara High graduate and Ramirez went to Buena.
Cuesta took the team title with 37 points, followed by Citrus (55), SBCC (66) and Long Beach (68).
“We ran about half our squad today and they were pretty controlled at the start, then went forward in the second mile,” said coach Scott Fickerson. “We just came out and wanted to get a race under our belt.”
Garibay, a freshman from Santa Ynez High, clocked 23:21 on the 5K course and was the only SBCC runner. Antonella Curinga of Citrus was the winner in 21:11. Citrus won the five-team competition with 31 points, beating Cuesta by four.
“This is a few weeks earlier than we usually start, so we only sent out one runner,” said coach Scott Fickerson.
The Vaqueros will compete in the Southern Cal Preview on Friday, Sept. 18 at Mission Bay in San Diego.
