Tigers Tie for Third at Golden West Invite; RCC Will Host Its Riverside Invite on October 7

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Finishing in a tie for third place, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers men's cross country team competed well in the Golden West Classic Invitational Friday (Sept. 23) at Central Park in Huntington Beach.

Central Park also will be the site of the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Championships late next month on Friday, Oct. 28.

Heading into the race, Riverside was the top-ranked team in the state in the latest California Community College Men's Cross Country Coaches poll which was released last Saturday (Sept. 17). Last Friday (Sept. 16), the Tigers won the Southern California Preview Championship  at Irvine Regional Park.

Glendale College won the race with 32 points as the Vaqueros easily outdistanced runner-up Orange Coast College (93 points). Riverside and Santa Ana College each tallied 103 points to tie for third place and Mt. San Antonio College finished fifth (120 points) as 19 teams competed.

Leading the way was Glendale sophomore Shane Thompson, who logged a winning time of 21:09.7 over the 4.0-mile course.

Riverside City was paced by sophomore Carlos Ramirez (Riverside / M.L. King HS '15), who was sixth overall with a time of 21:35.3. Next for RCC were sophomore Cade Clark (Corona / Santiago HS '15), who was 11th overall (21:45.6), followed by freshman Michael Robinson (Riverside / M.L. King HS '16), who was 23rd overall (22:01.6), freshman Alejandro Diaz Acevedo (Centennial HS), who was 31st overall (22:06.6), and freshman Ricardo Cardenas (Riverside / John W. North HS '16), who was 32nd overall (22:07.4) to round out RCC's top five finishers.

The Tigers' sixth finisher was sophomore Isaiah Quiambao (Riverside / M.L. King HS '15), who was 37th overall (22:16.4) and freshman Melvin Esteva (La Sierra HS), who was 40th overall (22:21.0).

Riverside held its top five runners out of the race.

"I was very pleased with how our guys raced today," said 11-year RCC head cross country coach Jim McCarron. "Carlos Ramirez and Cade Clark really stepped up to earn a spot in the top fifteen out of a field of 199 runners."