Pirate Harriers Qualify for SoCal's at WSC Championships

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.

The VC women scored 164 points, finishing behind Glendale (30 points), Canyons (87), Cuesta (89), and Moorpark (149). The Pirates finished ahead of Santa Barbara (173), Bakersfield (194), and Antelope Valley (199), all of whom qualified for the SoCal Finals. Schmidt ran in the No. 1 spot for Ventura, placing 13th overall (11 points) and earning All-WSC honors with a time of 19:47 for the 5k course. Marissa Gonzales (21st, 20:18, 17 points), Kenna Perez (41st, 21:33, 35), Veronica Lavin (49th, 21:59, 40), Fabiola Gomez-Flores (51st, 22:08, 42), Tati Morales (56th, 22:28), Amanda Wendt (63rd, 23:12)and Julia Toscano (90th, 27:41) rounded out the Pirate finishers.

The men's team hit a bump in the road almost failing to qualify for the regionals, holding onto the seventh position with 155 points. Glendale (27 points) scored the team title double, followed by Cuesta (80), Santa Barbara (88), West LA (96), Moorpark (121), Canyons (129), Ventura and Santa Monica (163) qualifying to represent the WSC at the regional meet. Rodriguez ran in the No. 1 spot for the Pirates for the first time this season, placing 19th (17 points) and running 22:01 for the 4-mile course. Jesse Vasquez (29th, 22:20, 25 points), Christian Gil (39th, 22:34, 35), Jose Tamayo (41st, 22:40, 37), David Torres (46th, 22:50, 41), Alex Ambriz (52nd, 23:03), Ernie Nombrano (55th, 23:09), Francisco Erazo (57th, 23:21), and Frank Chavez (95th, 25:56) completed the men's team placers.

"Getting through this meet has traditionally been emotionally draining and today was no exception," commented head coach Tony Veney, "But we are moving on and with two weeks to train (for regionals), I am confident our best races are ahead of us."