Sophomore cross-country and track stars David Cardona and Jose Lezama decided to put their best to the test at the UC Irvine Invitational Saturday.
The duo certainly did not disappoint.
“This year, our two returning stars David Cardona and Jose Lezama will challenge for a top 10 spot in the race,” Dean Lofgren, coach, said. “If not one of them winning overall.”
Both runners did just that when Cardona placed first with a time of 24:38 and Lezama placing fifth with 24:59 in the five-mile run.
EC’s next race will be tomorrow at Mt. SAC.
The results gave EC two spots in the top five out of a total of 238 collegiate runners.
“David sat behind the leaders until the last 600 meters when he took the lead for good and went on to a huge win,” Lofgren said. “Not letting his teammate and friend get too far away, Jose Lezama stuck close.”
Not falling far behind, rookie teammates Anthony Lewis and Alex Villaescusa came in at a respectable times placing Lewis at 27:12 and Villaescusa at 27:29.
Rounding up EC’s top seven was Jon Bartollazi with a time of 27:41, Justin Caracoza with 27:47, and Jonathan Nakai with 28:02.
Training consistently for the season, the EC track teams are always eager to train themselves to their full potential.
“Preparing for these competition meets, we basically ‘train through’ and don’t alter our weekly training,” Lofgren said. “We don’t back off and ‘peak’ for these early season meets or we will be flat and basically out of shape.”
Taking every race as a learning experience for the next meet, the men’s cross-country and track team prove that with perseverance hard work can pay off.
“We know we will be in front of many, many universities that are more “prestigious” than a community college, but they learn quickly, that the California Community College system is very competitive,” Lofgren said.
The men’s cross country and track team is out to prove that with their hard training, dedication and most of all team spirit, every meet is one step closer to victory.
“As we like to say, another sport’s punishment (running, push-ups ) is our pleasure and mainstay,” Lofgren said. “The more the better and it takes a special, dedicated, and disciplined person in most everything in their life to be successful, something we try to be.”