Tigers Win Second Straight OEC Championship Friday

IRVINE -- Finishing with five racers in the top 13 and seven in the top 18, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers women's cross country team won its second consecutive Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Championship Friday morning (Oct. 30) at Mason Regional Park in Irvine.

In 2014, RCC snapped Orange Coast College's 18-year OEC Championship streak. It also was RCC's first OEC Championship in women's cross country since 1991. The win in 2015 also marked the first time that both the RCC men's and women's teams won the OEC Championship in the same season.

Riverside won the 3.1-mile race which consisted of seven teams and 55 runners with a team score of 32 points, followed by Orange Coast (61 points), Saddleback (76), Santa Ana (103), Santiago Canyon (116), Fullerton (143), and Golden West (210).

The Tigers are currently ranked No. 4 in the state.

Riverside had four runners finish in the top ten and six finish in the top 14 and gain all-OEC honors.

RCC was led by sophomore Brianna Jacklin (Riverside / M.L. King, Jr. HS '14), who was second overall (19:23.58), followed by sophomore Crystal Tejeda (Riverside / Norte Vista HS '14), who was fifth overall (20:06.38), frosh Natalie Vaughn (Corona / Santiago HS '15), who was sixth overall (20:09.72), frosh Alexis Louis (Riverside / Poly HS '15), who was seventh overall (20:10.63), and sophomore Liliana Vargas (Eastvale / Eleanor Roosevelt HS '14), who was 12th overall (20:36.58).

"Our plan was to work on closing the gaps and pack well," said RCC sixth-year head women's cross country coach Damien Smith. "(The Tigers) did an excellent job doing that by staying within three seconds of each other."

Toni Lopez, from Santa Ana College, won the race with a time of 19:16.01.

The Tigers will next participate at the Southern California Championships on Friday, Nov. 6, at Mission Bay Park in San Diego at 9 a.m.

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