Roundup : Benavides Leads OCC in Cross-Country Event

Maricela Benavides of Orange Coast College won the race, but San Diego Mesa won the day Friday at the Irvine Invitational cross-county race at Irvine Regional Park.

Benavides won the 3 1/4-mile women’s race in 18 minutes and 40.8 seconds but Mesa won the team title with 96 points. OCC was second with 113 points, Riverside was third with 129 points and Rancho Santiago was fourth with 145 points.

Benavides is a freshman from Santa Ana Valley High School who sat out last season to attend beauty school. She is making a comeback this fall at Orange Coast.

Friday, she took the lead in the first mile and slowly opened the margin to about 15 seconds after two miles.

Micky Jimenez of Glendale was second in 18:56. Carla Swaim (19:15.8) of El Camino was third, Gillian Evans (19:24.3) of Porterville fourth, and Jade Preato (19:30.9) of San Diego Mesa fifth.

Mesa’s five scoring runners finished fifth, 13th, 15th, 16th, and 47th in the field of 124 runners. Rancho Santiago’s Eva Orozco (19:45.5) was eighth and Virginia Emilano (19:58.8) was 10th.

Pablo Sierra of East Los Angeles won the men’s four-mile race in 19:35. Riverside won the men’s team title with 98 points. Pasadena was second with 114 and Taft was third with 128 points.

John Meagher of Riverside led most of the way and had about a 10-second lead at the three-mile mark before being passed by Sierra in the final mile. Meagher was second in 19:43.3. Chris Parmer (19:50.7) of Orange Coast was third. OCC teammate Brad Sigler (20:12.2) was seventh in the field of 136 runners.

In South Coast Conference women’s soccer:

Orange Coast 6, Long Beach 1--Brittany Leonard and Michelle Forgette each scored two goals to lead visiting Orange Coast, which improved to 5-2-3 overall and 4-0-1 in conference play.

In Orange Empire Conference water polo:

Orange Coast 14, Palomar 9--Tony Litwak had six goals to lead Orange Coast (11-2, 5-0) at home. It was the 45th consecutive conference victory for OCC Coach Don Watson. OCC is ranked fourth in the state.

Saddleback 9, Grossmont 7--Tino Pedrone scored four goals to lead the Gauchos (7-8) at Saddleback. Goalie Steve Chaplain made eight saves for Saddleback.

In South Coast Conference water polo:

Fullerton 10, El Camino 9--Clark Lew scored with two seconds left to break a 9-9 tie for visiting Fullerton (4-5, 2-1). Adam Smith and Mike Titus scored three goals each for Fullerton.

Golden West 32, Pasadena 5--Henry Rabello scored six goals, all in the first quarter, and Chad Blanchard had four off the bench to lead visiting Golden West. Golden West (15-1, 3-0) led, 21-4, at the half.

In nonconference water polo:

Cypress 11, Rio Hondo 8--Cypress (11-4) had six goals from Craig Garcia, who scored four in the third quarter when Cypress stretched a 4-2 lead to 10-6. Rio Hondo is 6-11.

In nonconference men’s soccer:

Cypress 2, Moorpark 1--Hugo Leon scored two first-half goals to lead host Cypress (3-5-2).

Glendale 3, Fullerton 1--Fullerton (7-4-1) tied the score when Luis Panduro scored eight minutes into the second half, but Glendale’s Peter Rodriguez scored 14 minutes later for the go-ahead goal.