Cross Country Women Bolt To 2nd Place, Men 3rd at Brubaker Meet Lyons

The Pasadena City College women’s cross country team placed second out of eight teams competing Friday morning at the Brubaker Invitational meet held at Orange County’s Irvine Park. The Santa Ana College-hosted meet also featured a third place by PCC in the men’s race.

The Lancers women, who this week were anointed No. 11 in the regional Top 15 rankings, showed their worth at the Brubaker 5-K course as seven PCC racers finished in the top 25 individually (66 runners competed). For the third consecutive meet, a different lead harrier emerged as sophomore Elizabeth Lyons placed a PCC best sixth with tente gonflable a time of 19:51.3. The letterman Lyons from Rosemead High, has shown a strong improvement from last season.

Freshman Diane Lombardi crossed the line next in 11th at 20:24.5. Rookie Zahina Rios, last meet’s top PCC finisher, followed in 14th (20:38). Others cracking the top 25 were Arielle Barragan (18th, 20:57), sophomore Cassandra Lew (19th, 21:08), sophomore Rebecca Nunez (22nd, 21:25), and Tessa Chandler (25th, 21:43). Michelle Escamilla (44th, 23:10.5), and Andrea Mejia (51st, 24:18) also competed for the Lancers.

“This was an important meet in that we finished ahead of Palomar and Fullerton, two teams that were ranked ahead of us,” said PCC Head Coach Armand Crespo. “We have a goal to go as a team to the state meet, and we’re positioning ourselves well.”

In the 77-runner, seven-team men’s 4-mile race, the Lancers were paced once again by their top runner Brian Sacripanti, who placed 23rd overall at 22:13.9. The rest of the Pasadena runners in order were: Angus Leung (27th, 22:33.6), sophomore Chris Le (34th, 23:11), Julio Garcia (41st, 23:30), the aptly named Hamilton Ran (44th, 23:52.6), sophomore Robert Carbajal (48th, 24:15), Taylor Toyotome (49th, 24:23), and Anthony Huerta (66th, 26:32).

San Bernardino Valley won the men’s race while Mt. San Antonio captured the women’s meet.

The PCC teams now prepare for the Big 3 meets, beginning with the South Coast Conference Championships on Saturday, October 29 at Cerritos Regional Park.

Release Date: 10/08/2011

Rios Grabs 36th as Women’s Cross Country 10th in SoCal Preview Meet Rios

Freshman Zahina Rios raced a 20:07 time to take 36th place overall in leading the Pasadena City College women’s cross country team to 10th at the SoCal Preview Meet held Friday at Guasti Regional Park in Ontario.

Rios, from La Puente’s Bassett High was among several Lancers who ran a strong race over the 5-kilometer course, the same one that will be used in November’s Southern California Championships. Her finish was impressive as she was one of 257 runners and PCC’s team finish in the top 10 was on the high side out of 29 teams that raced the event.

Helping Pasadena’s score were sophomores Cassandra Lew (58th place, 20:41), Rebecca Nunez (67th, 20:55), and Elizabeth Lyons (72nd, 21:02). The team’s previous top-scoring runner, freshman Diane Lombardi, was fifth best on the squad in 102nd place (21:45). Freshmen Arielle Barragan (Gabrielino High, 110th, 22:01.6) and Tessa Chandler (Burroughs High, 115th, 22:13.7) also were PCC runners who finished in the upper half.

Other Lancers participating were Michelle Escamilla (142nd, 22:58), April Tiscareno (214th, 25:42), and Andrea Mejia (232nd, 26:44.6).

The Lancers were the fourth highest South Coast Conference team with Mt. San Antonio (second place), LA Trade Tech (fifth), and Cerritos (sixth) placing ahead of them.  Orange Coast won the race with five runners finishing in the top 10 individually.

PCC MEN’S HARRIERS

Pasadena finished 18th place out of 30 teams at the SoCal Preview Meet. Once again, the Lancers were paced by freshman Brian Sacripanti (Maranatha High), who was 74th individually among 276 runners over the 4-mile course. Sophomore Chris Le was the only other Lancer to crack the top 100 in 97th place (23:11.7).

Other Lancers participating were Hamilton Ran (129th, 23:49.6), Angus Leung (139th, 24:03), Julio Garcia (143rd, 24:06.7), Taylor Toyotome (183rd, 25:00), Robert Carbajal (199th, 25:25), and Anthony Huerta (244th, 27:20). SCC foe LA Trade Tech won the meet and Cerritos runner Daniel Herrera placed first individually at 20:09.

PCC’s cross country teams are coached by Armand Crespo. The Lancers squads will be back in action on Friday, October 7 at the Brubaker Invitational in Irvine. The women’s 5-K race begins at 9 a.m. and the men’s 4-mile race at 10 a.m.

Release Date: 10/03/2011

Women’s Cross Country Takes 10th at UC Riverside Sacripanti/Lombardi

Finishing higher than eight 4-year university squads, the Pasadena City College women’s cross country team placed 10th overall at the UC Riverside Invitational meet held Saturday morning. Leading the Lancers’ charge was Diane Lombardi in 59th place out of 248 runners.

Lombardi posted a 19:06 time in the 5-kilometer race held at the UC Riverside Agricultural course. Following Lombardi in order were: Elizabeth Lyons (79th place, 19:25), Zahina Rios (87th, 19:36), Rebecca Nunez (111th, 19:54), Cassandra Lew (130th, 20:12), Michelle Escamilla (210th, 22:10), Natasha Nicholson (217th, 22:32), Melissa Hadloc (221st, 23:00), Andrea Mejia (233rd, 23:56), April Tiscareno (235th, 24:17), and Jennifer Portillo (242nd, 25:34).

The only community college team to place higher than PCC was LA Trade Tech in eighth place as Riverside came in 14th. Cal State San Marcos won the team meet.

“We had three scoring runners finishing in the top 100, which is impressive considering the competition,” said PCC Head Coach Armand Crespo. “Lombardi, Lyons, Rios, Nunez and Lew were all in the upper toboggan gonflable half and that’s a good sign for us. We have the best depth for a women’s team here in a long time.”

MEN HARRIERS

The PCC men’s cross country team did not fare well at the UC Riverside meet, finishing in 24th place out of 25 teams in the 8-kilometer race.

For the second consecutive meet, the Lancers men were paced by Brian Sacripanti in 145th place (26:31) out of 242 runners. The next fastest Lancer was Chris Le in 193rd (27:30), followed by Oscar Hernandez (196th, 27:37), Angus Leung (216th, 28:22), Hamilton Ran (226th 29:24), Julio Garcia (232nd, 30:07), Taylor Toyotome (233rd, 30:10), Robert Carbajal (236th, 31:16), and Anthony Huerta (239th, 32:09).

Release Date: 09/18/2011