Men's XC, Torres Qualify for SoCal Regionals

The Pirates' men's cross country team finished fifth Friday at the Western State Conference Championships at Oxnard College to qualify for the SoCal Regionals as a team. Kevin Ramirez and Jonah Sloan led the way in 21st and 24th place overall, respectively, for Ventura, earning second team All-Western State Conference honors. Meanwhile, Brianna Torres came in fifth in the women's race to earn first team All-WSC accolades and an individual trip to the regionals in two weeks.

Ramirez ran the four-mile course in 21:37 to lead the Pirate runners across the finish line and Sloan crossed 12 seconds later. Nathaniel Lopez was named Honorable Mention All-WSC with his 37th place finish in 22:25. Carlos Oregel and Ivan Aleman came in 47th and 49th with marks of 23:00 and 23:13, respectively. Other VC runners included Eduardo Juarez-Cuevas (64th, 24:02), Luis Jimenez (87th, 26:30), Dillon Rothermel (94th, 27:15) and John Gleason (101st, 29:09). A total of 110 runners competed.

Bakersfield won the team event with 44 points followed by Moorpark with 69. Glendale was third with 86, then Santa Monica and Ventura with 156. The Corsairs captured the tiebreaker against the Pirates to claim fourth.

Torres captured her second straight first team All-WSC nod running the 5k women's course in 18:24. Addison Ragsdale (51st, 23:06), Yesenia Molina (53rd, 23:27) and Cali Cornell (60th, 24:43) rounded out the Pirate competitors as VC did not field enough runners to compete for the team championship. There were 72 participants in the women's race.

Torres and the VC men will compete at the Southern California Regional Championships on Friday Nov. 8 at Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga.