Mounties Women Looking To State 3-Peat In Cross Country
As the two-time defending state champions, the Mt. San Antonio College is gearing for a possible three-peat to highlight the South Coast Conference women's cross country season in 2023.
The Mounties are ranked #1 in the 5CTCA SoCal Top 15 poll and have a top racer in Aarianna Amezcua, a freshman who was a prep star at Don Lugo High. Amezcua earned 5CTCA Runner of the Week #3 as she captured the individual title in helping Mt. SAC win the Oxnard Invitational on Sept. 8. She broke the 19-minute mark (18:59.9) over the 5-Kilometer course. In a race with 85 runners, 11 Mounties finished in the top 30, with five placing in the top 10. Mt. SAC's Ingrid Tamayo took third overall with a time of 19:27.8.
Against 4-year university racers, Amezcua was 27th overall at the 48th Charles Bowles Willamette Invitational held in Salem, Oregon on Sept. 30. Mt. SAC took seventh place out of 23 scoring colleges against runners from such universities as Oregon State, College of Idaho, Hawaii, and Portland State.
Cerritos College has been having a marvelous season thus far with a victory at the San Diego City Downey Classic (Sept. 29) and runner-up finishes at both the 21-team, SoCal Preview Meet (Sept. 15) and Oxnard Invite (Sept. 8). The Falcons are currently seventh on the SoCal Region poll.
Megan Feitz is a top racer for Cerritos as she ran a 19:52.9 at the season-opening Fresno Invitational to take fifth overall. She raced at Woodward Park, the course used annually at the 3C2A State Championships. She ran a 19:42 for ninth at the Oxnard meet, a 19:13 for 11th at the SoCal meet. She took third overall at the Golden West Central Park Classic and was second at the Downey meet. Samantha Martinez was third overall at Downey.
El Camino, ninth in the region rankings, has a veteran runner in letterman Sequoia Gonzales, who finished seventh at the 3C2A State Championships in 2022. Gonzales helped ECC place sixth at the SoCal Preview as she raced a spectacular second out of 170 total runners with a fast 18:26.4 time. Ami Jacobsen is another Warrior who figures to be strong in the SCC with a 19th place (19:37.6) at SoCal.
East Los Angeles also has one of the region's premier runners in Marbella Flores, who won Runner of the Week #5 honors after winning the Downey Classic in 19:19, nearly a minute ahead of the next runner. She was also second at the Moorpark Invitational and fourth at the Socal Preview Meet at 18:36.7. And she was the top CCC runner at the Biola University Invite in 11th overall.
LA Harbor took 14th at the SoCal Preview behind top racer Sherlyn Gomez, who placed 24th overall at 19:46.1.
Long Beach City placed 15th and was led by Katlyn Moratoya in 55th.
Pasadena City's top runner was Summer Hamilton in 92nd.
The SCC Championships take place Friday, Oct. 27 at Ken Malloy Regional Park in Harbor City.
ELAC's Flores center with Cerritos' Feitz (left) and Martinez (right) at the podium for the Downey Classic.
Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID