2016 Ventura College Cross Country Team News
For the first time since 2010, both the men's and women's cross country teams from ventura college qualified for the CCCAA State Championships held Saturday in Fresno's Woodward Park. Both teams had solid performances with the women coming in 11th overall and the men 14th out of the 28 teams competing. Marissa Gonzales led the women while Nestor Rodriguez paces the Pirate men.
The Ventura College men's and women's cross country teams qualified for the CCCAA State Championships withe their performance at the South California Regional Finals, at Irvine Regional Park Friday. The women, who came into the meet ranked No. 11 in SoCal, exceeded their projection with their best team race of the year placing eighth. The men punched their ticket to state with an 11th place team finish of the 28 competing teams.
On a warm and blustery day at the Western State Conference Championships hosted by Oxnard College, the VC men's and women's cross country teams qualified for the Southern California Regional Finals in November. Macy Schmidt led the Pirate women to fifth place in the conference finals while Nestor Rodriguez led the VC men to a seventh place finish. The top eight teams for both the men and women's advance to the state qualifier.
Pirate freshman Macy Schmidt ran a season best of 18:51 on the hilly 3-mile course, good for an eighth place finish in the Mt. San Antonio College Invitational Friday in Walnut , leading the Pirate women to a fourth place finish out of 17 competing teams. Alex Ambriz came in 31st overall in the men's 4-mile race as the Ventura men placed seventh of the 17 teams. It was the final tune-up for the VC cross country teams before the Western State Conference championships.
The Pirates' men's cross country team ran a season-changing race, placing second of 12 teams at the Western State Conference Preview in Bakersfield Friday. Under cloudless skies and temps running in the high 80's, the men ran in a tight pack of the majority of the 4-mile course for their highest preview finish in seven years. David Torres led the Pirates placing 11th of 114 runners. The women ran shorthanded for the third straight week finishing fifth of 11 teams.
Marissa Gonzales Placed 12th out of 244 finishers to lead the Pirate women to a Top-10 finish at the SoCal Regional Preview at Irvine Regional Park Friday afternoon. On a challenging course that switched between grass, dirt, asphalt and gravel, Gonzales ran a personal record 19:41 for the 5k course. Ventura finished 10th overall of 32 competing teams while the men, led by Alex Ambriz, also had a strong showing with an 11th place finish as a team.
For the second straight season, a Pirate came in first in the annual Ventura Invitational cross country meet at Arroyo Verde Park. Freshman Macy Schmidt covered the difficult 5k course in 20:45 to run away from the field, winning by 33 seconds over her nearest competitor. Marissa Gonzales came in third, helping the VC women to a second place finish as a team. The VC men finished fourth in their race.
The Ventura College men's and women's cross country team opened the 2016 season traveling accross town for the Oxnard College Invitational. The women finished 10th as a team and were lead by freshman, Marissa Gonzales who ran a personal best for 5k. The Pirate men also finished in 10th place in the meet, led by Ronaldo Flores.