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Press Releases - Cross Country Vikes with impressive showing in SouCal Golden West Invitational 9/25/05 Men Capture Team Championship; Women 2nd. Huntington Beach, CA - The Diablo Valley College Cross-Country team ventured into the southland to face many of the toughest programs in the state and came away with a victory in the Men’s division and a solid 2nd place performance vs. one of the best women’s teams in the state. An aggressive first half of the women’s race required Mt. San Antonio College to dig deep to come back in the late stages of the 5000 meter race to beat the Lady Vikes 36-54. Freshman Vera Ross led her teammates with an impressive 2nd place while Danielle Sinclair was also in the top 10 of the 116 runner field with a 10th place finish. Captain Whitney Bricker was also in the hunt for high placing as she pulled down a 12th place finish. April Dyer was right on her heels with a 14th place finish. A greatly improved Christena Tozel was 16th to round out the team scoring and helped the Vikings with a 58 second spread for the top 5 runners. Raquel Serna was 67th to round out the team results for the Vikings. MSAC’s spread time for their first 5 runners was 47 seconds. Both teams had excellent team times of 1:41:54 to 1:42:31, a difference of only 37 seconds! All of the women ran to impressive and improved times from their last outing in Fresno two weeks earlier over a tough Golden West course. Team Scores Women
Moorpark, Golden West, Rio Hondo, San Mateo, Hancock. Smith, Mason and Lopez in the top 10! The Lady Vikes effort must have inspired the Men’s team as they ran right to the front of the field with team Captain Lancer Smith even leading in the late stages of the race to continue to press the pace. Smith came away with what he referred to as “the best race of my life” while placing 3rd in 20:13 over the 4-mile course and 177 runners! Smith’s 20:13 was a personal best time and only 13 seconds behind the #1 runner in the state, Babey Wagnew of Southwestern College! Teammate Ryan Mason, 14th in last year’s state championship, was 6th with a huge personal best of 20:23. Mason running an excellent and competitive race as both he and Smith carried the pace much of the way. Harlan Lopez greatly aided his team with a magnificent effort, placing 9th in a personal best time of 20:31! Luis Padilla held the team effort together with his 25th place finish, running down several runners in the last 200 meters, posting a 21:13 best time. Rob Kuslits had an incredible race effort as he ran a personal best by over 1 minute, running 21:37 for 43rd place and rounding out the top 5 for DVC. Kuslits made a huge move to pass several runners in the last 200 meters when he tumbled to the ground rounding a cone on slick asphalt. He lost over 10 places but got up quickly and finished with a solid sprint. The Vikings were on pace to score under 80 points despite the mishap! Jose Lorenzana, vastly improved from his race in Fresno two week earlier, dropped almost 2 minutes and ran 23:13, a personal best! Jonathan Foster also ran a PR with his 23:18 dropping nearly 1 minute off his best time. Scott Vigus fought hard through the crowded field and posted an excellent time of 24:44, much improved from his Fresno effort. DVC’s final runner, Sasha Tooriyani continued to improve his time with a 25:23 over the tough 4 mile course. The men’s team, like the women, also had impressive statistics as they had a 1:24 spread time from 1-5 runners. Their team-time was 1:43.57, 33 seconds ahead of 2nd place team Southwestern whose team spread was 1:49 as they boast the best runner in the state, undefeated Babey Wagnew. Both the Men and Women’s teams should vault to or near the top of both state polls after this excellent performance vs. Southern California colleges. Over the past 15 years there has not been a higher placing Northern California team vs. the teams from the Southern part of the state! Team Scores Men
Santa Barbara CC, Golden West, San Mateo
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