Women's Cross Country Earns Southern California Runner Up
The Riverside City College women's cross country team entered into the California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Southern California Regionals eager to make a statement. After hauling in the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) title, the Tigers followed up with a solid showing leading to a second place finish.
Riverside bested their previous season's finish of third place and bumps up one position to rock the silver medal. It is their fifth podium finish this year with hopes of one more to come.
The Tigers landed three of their five runners in the top-20 and edged out Glendale by 10 points. Mt. San Antonio College hauled in first place, while College of the Canyons boasted the top runner at the meet.
Familiar faces took up the top spots for Riverside as sophomore Helena Valdez placed 15th overall at a time of 19:24.40. She moves up to the top runner after being the third-strongest runner at the conference championships.
Sophomore tandem Brianna Rodriguez and Elani Huntley finished at each other heals one again, just not for the top two positions. Rodriguez placed 18th overall with 19:34.98 times, while Huntley followed with a 19:39.90 time.
Sophomores Maria Rojas and Laila Wright rounded out Riverside's scoring competitors with a placing 40th and 41st. Rojas clocked in a time of 20:23.48, while Wright followed with a 20:24.37 mark.
Riverside is set to compete in the CCCAA State Championship Fresno, CA in Woodward Park on Saturday, November 20 at 10 am.