Cross country: Knox takes over OCC cross country

COSTA MESA - John Knox, the head coach of the Orange Coast College

track and field team, will replace John Goldman and guide the Pirates’

cross country program in the fall.

The head coaching position of the OCC men’s and women’s cross country

teams opened up as a full-time job and Goldman saw that as an opportunity

to move on, Goldman said. Goldman, whose schedule worked more

appropriately as an adjunct faculty member, said he will soon receive

word on a few jobs he has applied for.

Knox, a former track athlete at Orange Coast, is anxious to maintain

the cross country program’s winning tradition. Dave Fier returns as an

assistant and OCC has hired full-time assistant Marco Ochoa, a former

Adams State College standout, who was an elite distance runner. Ochoa,

who was at one time ranked fifth in the world in marathon competition,

recently coached at Rio Hondo College.

Last fall, the OCC men and women won their respective Orange Empire

Conference titles. The OCC women won the state title, led by individual

state champion Michelle Icban, who returns for her sophomore season in

the fall.

Under Goldman’s six-year tenure, the OCC women won four state titles

(1997-99 and 2001), while the men were also state champions in 1999.

Goldman also worked as a track and field assistant coach and finished out

the season last month.

-- by Steve Virgen