Diaz wins at UC San Diego

Art Diaz beat the entire men’s field to lead the Orange Coast College

men’s cross country team to a second-place overall finish in the

Triton Classic at UC San Diego Saturday.

Diaz ran the 8,000-meter course in 25:18.4 and was followed by

teammates Jose Casillas (second, 26:06) and Humberto Rojas (third,

26:08.4) for Coast, which finished with 53 points. UCLA won the race

with 52 while UC Irvine came in third with 61 points in a meet that

attracted 26 teams, John Knox, Coast’s men’s and women’s cross

country coach, said. Casillas placed 12th overall while Rojas was

14th.

UCI’s Ricky Barnes took second in the Division I race in 25:32

while teammate Tom Whelan finished fourth (25:59.4). Other Anteater

finishers were Brandon Lucero (seventh, 26:29), John Kluve (eighth,

26:30.7), David Santos (13th, 26:52.6), Andrew Garratt (16th,

27:13.4), Matt Grilli (21st, 27:54.4) Silvestre Uribe (22nd, 28:02.4)

and Travis Bruton (27th, 28:56.4). David Ojeda placed fifth (26:33)

in the Division IV race followed by teammates Francisco Guerra

(ninth, 27:09.5) and Pedro Nambo (10th place, 27:18.1). Juan

Altamirano ran in 27:36.4 for 12th place while Jason Valenzuela

placed 13th in 27:36.7. Kohyar Naderi (15th, 27:50.5), Artie Moreno

(16th, 27:53.5), Chris Massi (24th, 28:42.7), Matt Staggs (25th,

28:47.8), Jason Thomas (28th, 29:08.3), Abel Flores (33rd, 29:40.8),

Joshua Gerard (35th, 29:53.8) and Carlos Leon (37th, 29:56.8)

finished for OCC.

The UCI women’s team placed second with 71 points behind UCLA

(70). OCC took sixth with 206 points.

UCI’s Tessa Cendejas ran the 6,000-meter course in 22:22.7 to

finish fourth overall while teammate Kaleena Yee ran in 22:51.3, good

for 10th place. Kim Ramirez placed 16th (23:19.4) while OCC’s Sandra

Montoya led the Coast women by placing 18th overall in 23:32.8.

Coast’s women won the Division IV race with 16 points. Pima

College came in second with 67 points.

UCI’s Kim Handel placed 20th in 23:41 while teammate Janelle Del

Soldato ran in 23:44.4 at 21st. Jenna Keith (26th, 23:52) and Chelsey

Traylor (27th, 24:00.5) placed for UCI followed by OCC”s Ava Jones

(30th, 24:06.4).

The ‘Eaters’ Ashley Patteson (31st, 24:06.5), OCC’s Annie Garton

(36th, 24:14.4), UCI’s Melinda Fuller (41st, 24:19.2) and Karin

Ragudo (48th, 24:38), Coast’s Ludi Valdes (24:40.4), UCI’s Natalie

St. Andre (58th, 24:54.4) and Veronica Herrera (61st, 24:56.2), along

with OCC’s Emilie Vo (71st, 25:25.8), Sarah Delano (86th, 25:48),

Jane Alder (25:55.2), Jennifer Swila (26:14.1), Jasmine Geider

(26:32), Hanni Geider (26:42.6), Claudia Sanchez (26:46.7), Jessica

Huerta (27:15.5) and Viviana Gutierrez (29:02.3), all finished.

Appell’s Estancia girls runners-up once again

* Coach Charlie Appell’s Estancia High girls cross country team

placed second for the second straight week in an invitational,

finishing behind Bolsa Grande, which accumulated 29 points in the

Central Park Invitational hosted by Fountain Valley.

Estancia, which was second last week at the Yucaipa Invitational,

scored 66 points in the 12-team Division III field. The team will

skip Saturday’s Orange County Invitational at Irvine Park.

Freshmen Jannette Abrego (21:07) and Sydney Barloon (21:22) were

fourth and fifth overall, respectively, for Estancia, which was also

paced by 16th, Okairy Lomeli (16th in 22:45), Lucy Leon (17th in

22:51), Crystal Rincon (28th in 23:40), Brittany Starn (31st in

23:50) and Fatima Carrasco (40th in 25:29).

“They were happy,” Appell said.

Estancia’s boys, led by Matt Zich and Alex Cahauntzi, will return

to action in the Orange County Invitational.

Many Newport-Mesa Unified School District cross country did not

compete Saturday, but plan to race in the Orange County Invitational.