Tigers Take Top Spot in SoCal Preview Friday

ORANGE -- Finishing ahead of 31 other teams, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's cross country team won the Southern California Preview Championship Friday (Sept. 16) hosted by the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) at Irvine Regional Park.

Riverside City had racers finish second, 12th, 16th, 18th and 25th to tally 73 points, easily outdistancing second-place Cuyamaca (100 points), third-place Mt. San Antonio (111), fourth-place San Bernardino Valley (113 points) and fifth-place Glendale (132).

Luis Ortega of San Bernardino Valley won the race with a time of 20:31.58 as 32 teams and 317 racers participated.

Finishing second was RCC sophomore Joshua Silva (Corona / Corona HS '15) with a time of  (20:36.98) over the four-mile (4.0 miles) course.

The next four RCC finishers were as follows: sophomore Cristian Malloy (Vista Murrieta HS '15), who was 12th overall, with a time of 21:16.98, sophomore Michael Simpson (Moreno Valley / Canyon Springs HS '15), who was 16th overall (21:23.15), freshman Darvale Terry Jackson (Riverside / John W. North HS '16), who was 18th overall (21:26.47), and freshman Ricardo Cardenas (Riverside / John W. North HS '16), who was 25th overall (21:34.36).

Elsewhere for RCC, sophomore Cade Clark (Corona / Santiago HS '15) was 31st overall (21:42.29) and Rolando Phalen (Riverside / M.L. King HS '15) was 34th overall (21:45.26).

"The Tigers ran a smart race coming on strong at the end to take the So Cal preview championship," said 11-year RCC head cross country coach Jim McCarron. "With the win, the Tigers take the top ranking in Southern California.

"Again, the guys showed good strength during the last two miles of the race and they made significant improvement in their down hill running, added McCarron. "It us good to see our third through seventh runners packing well."