The San Bernardino Valley College men's and women's cross country team took home the 2021 IEAC conference championships for the second consecutive year on Friday at Xavier College Preparatory High School in Palm Desert, CA.
The win for SBVC is the program's 24th title in 25 seasons across three conferences. "Winning back to back conference titles means a lot to our program," states head coach Jim Ratigan. "We always set our goals to win conference, run well at SoCal's, and then qualify for states. The first task is complete, but there's much more to do."
Despite only having five runners on the roster, the women's team ran strategically and smartly. Similar to the razor thin finish in 2019, SBVC was able to defeat Chaffey by a final score of 26 to 29.
All five members of the women's team finished in the top 10. Leading the pack was freshman sensation Diana Bautista who came in at 21:01. Sashi Torres came in third at 23:54. Noemi Velasquez placed sixth with a 24:58 time. Sales Litzy finished ninth 26:19 and Lenea Gomez came in tenth at 26:25.
On the men's side, freshman Juan Hernandez was first to complete the 4 mile race in 22:25, a 5:36 per mile average. Oscar Chavez finished third with a 22:52. Adam Lunt finished sixth with a 23:45. Logan Hernandez finished eight at 24:19.
Despite the 92 degree heat, all the runners performed incredibly. "Juan Hernandez has worked extremely hard this season and has become a solid distance runner,' states Ratigan. "Chavez took third to give us a solid 1-2 punch up front and that helped us to victory. Although Chaffey had a closer group at the 4, 5, and 6, I'm glad we were able to pull it off. They made us work," adds Ratigan.
Tradition of dominance continues. Next up for the "Valley runners" are the Southern California Championships which will be held at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Friday, November 5. Both teams are looking to finish in the top 14 teams to secure a spot for the state championships in Fresno, California at Woodward Park on November 20.
