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Pirate Harriers Second at Bakersfield Invitational

The Pirate men's and women's cross country teams traveled north on I-99 to compete in the annual Bakersfield Invitational at the Kern County Soccer Complex Friday. Bakersfield won both men's and women's races defeating the Pirates 16 to 43 while the Pirate men fell 17 to 38.

Alexi Tolosa came in eight for the Pirates at the Bakersfield Invitational Friday afternoon. VC finished behind the host school in the four-team event at the Kern County Soccer Park. The Ventura men also finished second.
Alexi Tolosa came in eight for the Pirates at the Bakersfield Invitational Friday afternoon. VC finished behind the host school in the four-team event at the Kern County Soccer Park. The Ventura men also finished second.
September 26, 2014

The Pirate men's and women's cross country teams traveled north on I-99 to compete in the annual Bakersfield Invitational at the Kern County Soccer Complex Friday. Bakersfield won both men's and women's races defeating the Pirates 16 to 43 while the Pirate men fell 17 to 38. Allan Hancock and new 4-year college, the University of Antelope Valley also participated in the meet, but did not compete with full teams (minimum 5 finishers to score). This kept the total numbers of competitors low as only 24 women and 30 men finished.

The women were lead for the third time this season by Maria Villalobos placing fifth overall in a 5K time of 20:54. Alexi Tolosa (8th – 21.09), Jordyn Vassaur (9th – 21.10), Amanda Gomez (10th – 21.18), Brigitte Kiesewetter (11th – 21.24), Brittany Gonzalez (12th – 21.24), and Shannon McDermott (15th – 23.14) rounded out the top seven.

"Bakersfield is a strong team we will have to contend with in five weeks if we expect to move on," commented head coach Tony Veney. "But there is always something you can glean from every race, and our top-five team gap dropped to a seasonal best of 30 seconds. (A 60 seconds gap is considered to solid.)"

For the third time this year, Anthony Rivas lead the men finishing fifth in a time of 23:00 for the four-mile course. Chasing Rivas to the line was Thomas McKenna (6th – 23.09), Jaime Luna (8th – 23.51), Sam Boyle (9th – 23.54), Alexis Miron (10th – 23.58), Thomas Garcia (11th – 23.59), Brett Bogdanski (12th – 24.24), Luis Cruz (13th – 24.40), Matthew Medina (14th – 24.45), Paul Gonzalez (17th – 25.07), Christian Rodriguez (22nd – 26.12), and Edgar Cerda (26th – 27.18). Similar to the VC women, the top-five time gap was 58 seconds, and only eight seconds between third and sixth.

The Pirate harriers travel to Kenny Hahn Park in Santa Monica on Friday Oct. 3 as West Los Angeles College hosts the Western State Conference Cross Country Preview. The women's 5K runs at 3:00 pm and is followed by the men's 4-mile at 4:00 pm.