Pirate Harriers Run on the Beach in Santa Barbara

The Ventura College men's and women's cross country teams participated in the Santa Barbara City College Invitational Friday on a course that included 1200m of run on soft sand within 50 meters of the Pacific Ocean. The women did not have enough runners to post a team score while the men finished 12th of the 13 competing teams.

Jordyn Vassaur led a group of four VC women at the Santa Barbara Invitational Friday.
Jordyn Vassaur led a group of four VC women at the Santa Barbara Invitational Friday.
Results
October 10, 2014

The Ventura College men's and women's cross country teams participated in the Santa Barbara City College Invitational Friday on a course that included 1200m of run on soft sand within 50 meters of the beach.  The women did not have enough runners to post a team score while the men finished 12th of the 13 competing teams.

Alexi Tolosa, Brittany Gonzalez, Megan Kearney and Maria Villalobos did not compete of VC, leaving a non-scoring group to run the 5K course. Jordyn Vassaur (24th - 22.15), Amanda Gomez (36th - 23.00), Brigitte Kiesewetter (37th - 23.05), and Shannon McDermott (44th - 23.27) made up the foursome who competed on a challenging course with parts on the soft sand.

The men's team also ran down a few men, with the group consisting of Alexis Miron (48th - 23.53), Brett Bogdanski (64th - 24.26), Thomas Garcia (72nd - 25.19), Luis Cruz (74th - 25.31), Vincent Chavez (78th - 26.11), and Matthew Medina (79th - 26.14) placing 12th out 13 scoring teams.

"The next two weeks will determine who moves on and who stay home," said head coach Tony Veney, "So training through a few and giving some a chance to perform as the top runners was helpful for the whole squad."

The Pirates' next meet will be the Western State Conference Finals October 24, as the VC is the championship hosts on their home course at Arroyo Verde Park. The women will run at 3:30pm, and the men will begin at 4:15 pm.