No shortage of team and individual challengers at Saturday's CCCAA Men's and Women's Cross Country Challengers

FRESNO - There’s a train of talent heading for the women’s 44th and the men’s 57th California Community College Cross Country Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, Nov. 20. The women run 3.1 miles at 10 a.m. and the men start 4 miles at 11 a.m.

The headlined schools are traditional CCCAA winning programs and the Clovis Community College teams are the ‘new kids on the block.’ Glendale coach Eddie Lopez’s Vaqueros, always a threat, might present him with a seventh women’s title coupled with his 1995 and 1998 men’s championships.

Mt. San Antonio College was led by Amanda Crowell, the Mounties top finisher (7th) at the Southern California championships and Hannah Brown (13th). Mt. SAC’s most recent state titles were 2017 and 2014. The Mounties' state championship successes began with back-to-back titles in 1988-1989.

By winning the SoCal individual title, Danielle Saucedo, College of the Canyons, remained undefeated in community college competition. She has a season-best of 17:45 at 3.1 miles. Stina Johansson of Ventura College (via Sweden), was runner-up in the SoCals. Her season-best time is 18:03 and her only 2021 loss so far is to Saucedo. Third place went to sophomore Yahaira Zuniga, of San Diego Mesa, She was 7th at the 2019 state championships and her season-best is 18:08

Meanwhile, at the Northern California Regionals in Rocklin, the Hartnell College Panthers won the title and were led by individual winner Sofia Camacho and Valeria Lozano-Gomez (3rd) who finished ninth at the 2019 state championships. Hartnell outpointed Clovis which was led by Jennifer Recinos (6th) and Toni Payton (10th).

“On the women’s side, there will be a great battle for the championship between Hartnell and Mt. SAC. Both teams have been dominant in their respective sections when running at full strength,” said Race Director and Clovis CC coach, CJ Albertson. He added, Riverside City, Glendale and Clovis are in the mix.

It appears the Hartnell men’s team is poised for a serious move on the state title. The NorCal champs dominated by scoring 26 points as all seven runners finished in the top eleven. Isaac Gensel posted a season-best of 20:11 as the individual winner and Esteban Deniz (4th) timed in at 20:32. Frank Maciel, Daniel Correa, Mario Avila, Jose Velazquez and Eli Ainsworth complete a deep Top 7.    

However, San Diego Mesa, the defending state champions and 2021 SoCal Champs, may have extra incentive in seeking back-to-back titles. Should they win, it would be the fifth state cross country championship in SDM history. The Olympians were led by Jonathan Kelly (2nd in SoCal) and Esteban Magana who were 1-2 in the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championships. 

“San Diego Mesa is the returning champion and they are tough to beat. They put six runners in the top 16 at the SoCal regionals. Hartnell has been running extremely well putting seven in the top eleven at NorCals. It will come down to who has the better day,” said Albertson.”

“You can’t count out American River or Mt. SAC. These programs have traditionally performed well at the state championships and they both have the capability to win if five runners have a great day. Riverside could make a run for the podium as they finished just five points behind Mt. SAC and have been running well lately,” he added.

In the SoCal men’s race, Mt. San Antonio sophomore Daniel Abdala was the individual winner. He earned All-America status finishing sixth at the 2019 state championships and is the top returner. Abdala has a 4-mile season best of 19:12. Teammate Jesse Alvarado (3rd in SoCal) has a season best of 19:43. Zackary Alexander, a 2019 All-American  (11th at Woodward Park), Elijah Ocegueda and Angel Perez were among the SoCal Top 21.      

 The Fresno area weather forecast for Saturday: partly cloudy skies with early morning temperatures in the mid-40s, a high of 65 and little wind, if any. Fresno’s scenic Woodward Park is not as colorful due to the drought, but lots of recent moisture has the dirt packed down hard. Hence, no dust and course conditions will be perfect for all.

(Woody Wilk, Fresno City College Athletics)