Taking on one of the most recognizably difficult courses this season, the men’s cross-country team moved up six spots from last week’s results to a first- place finish at the Southern California Invitational this past Saturday.
The team finished with a total of 47 points.
“Last week we did OK, but this week, we did great as we won the team title in first,” Cardona said. “Most of the team had good races.”
The Warriors beat out Mesa, Arizona and Mt. San Antonio College for the top spot.
Both the men’s and women’s cross-country teams will compete in Mt. SAC at the South Coast Conference Championships on Oct. 29.
According to the California Community College Athletics, Cardona “put on one of the most amazing displays of distance running that anyone has seen this year.”
Under course record lead, both David Cardona and Jose Lezama placed in the top two, helping the men’s team gain its spot among 22 different colleges.
“I feel great knowing that I have the strength and speed to win,” Cardona said. “Each meet does not mean as much as the state championship does, but I want to go undefeated.”
Following last weeks meet the Warriors are now focusing on preparing for their next competition.
“We talked about what happened last week and we concluded that what happens in the past, stays in the past,” Lezama said via e-mail. “We now focus on the future and keep our heads up.”
Improving his time and place this meet, Lezama said he prepared himself all week to avoid a repeat of last meet’s results.
“I ate healthy all weekend and I was really concentrating throughout the week,” Lezama said. “Although doing second runs helped me a lot also.”
Leading the women’s team to its 14th place finish was Andrea Webber, finishing in 38th place at the Mt.SAC championship and was closely followed by teammate Naomi Altamirano, who took 46th place.
Kara Kalmar made her debut this meet, finishing in third place.
“The women are doing their best, we usually don’t have a full team but each of the women run hard and are committed to the sport,” Cardona said.
The men are currently ranked No. 6 in Southern California and No. 2 in the conference while the women’s team is ranked seventh in the conference and will try to secure a top five finish to qualify to regionals.
“We are getting better and better, our freshman are adapting to the training,” Cardona said. “If we all run optimal races, we have a chance to be a top three team in state.”