Tigers Women Racers Place Sixth at CCCAA State Championships in Fresno

FRESNO -- Keeping its five-woman pack to under one minute, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers women's cross country team turned in a solid performance at the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Women's Cross Country Championships Saturday morning (Nov. 22) at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Riverside finished sixth out of 27 teams, scoring 217 points, despite not having the services of its No. 2 runner,

Frosh Brianna Jacklin (M.L. King '14) continued her rein as the Tigers' No. 1 runner, finishing 18th overall in a time of 18:56.8. Sophomore Isi Ibarra (Highland / San Gorgonio '13) was second for the Tigers (45th overall, 19:30.1), followed by Crystal Tejeda (Riverside / Norte Vista '14), who was 46th overall (19:31.9), frosh Laura Diaz-Barbosa (Jurupa Valley / Rubidoux '14), who was 61st overall (19:46.9), and sophomore Halina Carrera (Chino / Chino Hills '13), who was 67th overall (19:50.7). 

Aminat Olowora from Southwestern College broke the meet record by six seconds with a time of 17:00.  Mt. San Antonio College won the meet with 78 points. followed by College of the Canyons (104 points), Glendale (109), Hartnell (159), and Cerritos (186).

"Despite losing our number two runner earlier this week, the women ran a fantastic race," said fifth-year RCC head women's cross country coach Damien Smith. They really stepped up and executed the race plan well. The Tiger pack for the top five girls was less than 1 minute apart.  The Tigers beat two teams that beat them at the So Cal Championships two weeks ago.

"I think this was a fine way of ending the season with the women showing that they were going to give everything regardless who is in or missing from our line-up," concluded Smith.

Complete results can be found on  cccaasports.org.

-30-