Santa Ana Cross Country Qualifies for State Championships
Both Santa Ana cross country teams have qualified for the CCCAA State Championships on Saturday, Nov. 17th at Woodward Park in Fresno.
CERRITOS, Calif. – In her 11th season at Santa Ana College, Head Coach Miriam Mitzel will take both her men's and women's cross country teams to the California Community College Athletic Association State Championships after qualifying with impressive performances in the SoCal Regionals held at Don Knabe Regional Park on Friday morning.
The Santa Ana men finished sixth out of 28 teams with 253 points while the women placed 14th of 28 with 387 points.
Dalton Aviles placed the highest for the Don men, racing to a time of 20:14.6 to finish 25th in a field of 193 runners. Servando Aviles was next in at 20:19.8 for 30th and was followed by Giovanni Barajas (20:22.5), Lizandro Hernandez (21:10.5), Octavio Moreno (21:35.3), Dante Perez (22:42.4) and Daniel Gonzalez (22:43.1).
The Dons finished higher than any other Orange Empire Conference (OEC) team in the race, beating out the Riverside Tigers who placed eighth as a team after claiming the OEC Championship just a week before.
Maria Marroquin has finished first for the Dons in every race this season, and that did not change on Friday, as she took 27th place with a time of 19:05.9. Lucero Torres Calderon was not far behind, clocking in at 19:59.2 to take 53rd place. The Dons were rounded out by Melissa Aguirre (21:06.4), Monique Azpeitia (21:47.0) and Jacqueline Sanchez (22:28.8).
Both teams will continue their seasons at the CCCAA State Championships on Saturday, November 17th at Woodward Park in Fresno.
