Orange Coast Men and Saddleback Women Haul in OEC Cross Country Title
The Orange Empire Conference (OEC) men's and women's cross country championships took place Friday morning as the hunt for a conference title was on the line. The Orange Coast College men's program reigned supreme by seven points, while the Saddleback College Gauchos women's program hauled in the title by a four-point margin.
MEN
The Pirates snapped Riverside City College's four-year conference title run with a seven point spread to take home the crown. Two runners landed in the top-three for the Pirates as freshman Brian Soriano-Guzman (22:06.8) and freshman Ty Savely (22:09.5) landed in second place and third place. Freshman Yuki Watanabe (22:35.9) placed seventh overall to cap the top runners for the Pirates.
Santa Ana's Giovanni Barajas-Ramirez placed first overall to haul in the 2019 OEC Male Runner of the Meet award. He finished his jaunt at 21:48.5. Below are the final results.
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS |
| 1 | Orange Coast | 37 |
| 2 | Riverside | 44 |
| 3 | Fullerton | 89 |
| 4 | Santiago Canyon | 125 |
| 5 | Santa Ana | 127 |
| 6 | Saddleback | 132 |
| 7 | Golden West | 178 |
WOMEN
Saddleback edged out Riverside by a mere four points to haul in the conference title. Their victory marks the Gaucho's second-consecutive conference title.
Sophomore Dana McGrath was named the OEC Women's Runner of the Meet following a first place finish at a time of 20:54.0. Sophomore Cayla Porter (21:19.2) placed fourth overall and missed the podium by approximately four seconds.
Riverside's Emilinana Merida Cano (21:10.8) and Ariel Martinez (21:14.6) placed consecutively to round out the top three.
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS |
| 1 | Saddleback | 27 |
| 2 | Riverside | 31 |
| 3 | Orange Coast | 76 |
| 4 | Santiago Canyon | 126 |
| 5 | Santa Ana | 130 |
| 6 | Fullerton | 134 |
(Release by Nicho DellaValle, Riverside City College)