COMMUNITY COLLEGE CROSS-COUNTRY : Irvine Valley, Riverside Win Titles

Irvine Valley, making its second trip to the Orange Empire Conference women’s cross-country championships, came away with its second title Tuesday at Irvine Regional Park.

Irvine Valley, which started its program last season and tied for the State title, dominated the field, placing six runners in the top 10.

The Lasers finished with 26 points. Rancho Santiago was second with 90 points, Riverside (96) placed third and Golden West (104) fourth.

Riverside’s Emebet Shiferaw, who is from Africa, set a record on the five-kilometer course with a time of 17 minutes 20 seconds. She took the lead early and was never challenged.

Irvine Valley took the next three places with Nancy Hunsaker (18:41), Stacey Skeie (19:02) and Donna Proia (19:34). Saddleback’s Sonja Hildebrand was fifth in 19:43.

With the victory, Irvine Valley qualifies for the Nov. 21 State meet at Woodward Park in Fresno. Rancho Santiago also has a strong chance of making the field as an at-large team.

The men’s race went very much to form as Riverside’s Alamayeha Jimma, who is also from Africa, continued his impressive running. His time of 19:14 for four miles set a course record and was his sixth consecutive invitational victory this season. Riverside runners finished in the top four places and won the team title with 15 points. Fullerton (77) was second, Rancho Santiago (96) third and Golden West (96) fourth.

Sal Zavala of Rancho Santiago was the first Orange County runner to finish, placing sixth with a time of 20:34. Fullerton’s Shaun Nichols was sixth in 20:38.