Without any runners finishing in the top 10 positions, the team managed to keep a tight top five finishing group and won fourth place at Southern California Championship at Cuesta College.

The women will take the four-hour driving trip Friday to Fresno to compete in the State Championship at Woodward Park. The race will be Saturday morning at 10 a.m.

EC finished at Cuesta with 173 points and tied for fourth place with Cerritos. Southwestern came in third with 149 points; Riverside was second with 114, Orange Coast College won first place with a 101 point difference with 48 points.

“We ran well at Cuesta,” coach Dean Lofgren said. “To be in fourth place in the So Cal meet means you’re in good company.”

“There’s just very good competition out there,” Lofgren said.

The women have been consistently winning second and third place all season long. The fourth place spot at Cuesta isn’t much of a set back, especially when teams like Southwestern and Riverside placed ahead of the team.

“We run as well as we can relative to our players,” Lofgren said. “We can’t really determine what other teams do, so we just do what we know we can do.”

Cerritos fluctuated between second and third recorded its lowest position of the year. Orange Coast has been undefeated for the past two years, having won first place in every race it has competed in.

Southern California has traditionally dominated the state meets. Last year the top nine positions at state where occupied by So Cal teams.

“I don’t see any team in Northern California breaking up the top six in our region,” Lofgren said. “If we finish in the top six, we’ll be in good company.”

Since the toughest teams at state will be the same one that EC has raced against all year, the team isn’t expecting any surprises as far as the competition goes.

“There is some comfort level to facing the same competition we’ve been having all year.” Lofgren said. “It’s going to come down to who runs best that day.”

Lofgren believes the mood among the women is good and that competitive edge they each have will benefit the team Saturday.

“When we compete against other teams, we try to run as well as we can,” Lofgren said. “The women are very competitive against other teams. They also have a little friendly inter-squad competition because they all want to be the best.”

A strong will to win and lots of emotional support among team members has been beneficial during each race the team has faced. Despite the importance of the race, the coaching staff tries not to put too much pressure on the team while reminding them how serious this race is.

“We’re ready, we’ve prepped the team but it’s always though to prepare,” Lofgren said. “We just have to depend on what we can do.”

For assistant coach Sean Sheil, the team shouldn’t worry about the meet. He is confident about the team’s abilities.

“We should be ready for Saturday.” Sheil said.