Posted: Nov 06, 2024
HORNETS QUALIFY FOR THE SOCAL REGIONALS!
The Orange Empire Conference Championships took place at Central Park in Huntington Beach last Friday with both the FC men and women's teams showing out.
It was an exercise that ran as planned. The original grouping order changed however in this race for the men with Zidane Ras taking the lead for the Hornets and finished in 7th place overall at 21:30. The top 14 individuals received medals with the top seven runners earning 1st Team All-Conference honors, while runners 8-14 earned 2nd Team All-Conference. Jonathan Mendoza was just behind Zidane with a finish of 22:07, while Sebastian Conde (22:37) and Louis Guardado (22:59) ran within 52 seconds of each other.
"We have talked about our strength, and it's in our grouping", said head coach Gina Bevec.
Alex Alvarenga crossed the line as the Hornet's fifth man and helped seal the 4th-place finish for the team. Lucas Allan, Vincent San Paolo and Ethan Lee finished out the Hornet's success.
"Everyone in this race had performed tremendously better with their times from when we ran back here in September for the Golden West Classic", stated Bevec.
FC Men - 4th place - 94 points (59 total runners)
Zidane Ras 21:30
Jonathan Mendoza 22:07
Sebastian Conde 22:37
Louis Guardado 22:59
Alexander Alvarenga 24:07
Lucas Allen 24:38
Vincent San Paolo 27:46
Ethan Lee 30:39
The women had 27 total runners and as usual Haily Roberts and Ariana Rodriguez found their place among the top 14 places. Again, every Hornet had ran a better time today from the last race here at this park. Roberts crossed the line in 11th place and earned herself an individual spot advancing to SoCal Regionals. Rodriguez gave it a good fight to the finish line, however, came up one spot short of qualifying to regionals. Haily and Ariana earned 2nd Team All-OEC honor with their medals. Sheccid Maldonado and Michelle Garcia both ran well ending their season on a high with their best race of the season. The ladies unfortunately did not have a full team because of discomfited news with the other athletes not being able to run.
FC Women Top Finishes
Haily Roberts - 21:19
Ariana Rodriguez - 21:39
Sheccid Maldonado - 22:55
Michelle Garcia - 24:34
Up Next: The SoCal Regional Championships will take place at Chaffey College on Friday, November 8th. The women will race at 10:00 am, while the men will race at 11:00 am.