Despite not having an athlete finish in the top 10, EC managed to walk away with fifth place at the state meet Nov. 20.
The women finished with 158 points behind Cerritos with 152; Mt. SAC, 123; Riverside, 117 and Orange Coast with 36. `
EC’s top five finished with a 1:18 time split. Dinora Moran finished first for the team and 18th overall. Cora Webber, 24th place, second for EC; Evelyn Lopez was 34th, third for the team; Valerie Tucker came in 35th, fourth for the team and Lori Cardenas finished last for the team and 91st in the race.
Cardenas was EC’s fifth runner to cross the finish line, despite her sprained ankle, and finished the race a little more than a minute behind Tucker.
However, there were 56 athletes who finished the race between her and EC’s fourth place runner.
“In a race this big, a twenty second gap can really set you back,” coach Dean Lofgren said. “In a few seconds, a lot of people can cross the finish line.”
For EC, there is a sense of satisfaction having finished in fifth place behind competitive teams in its conference.
“Overall we ran well,” Lofgren said. “Our front runners ran as we expected.”
Aware that finishing in first place would be a very complicated task, the team set its mind on finishing in the top five.
“To finish in fifth place at state and fourth in Southern California is very good,” Lofgren said. “Being top five in the state is considered a successful year.”
Orange Coast College, which has been undefeated the last two years, went into the state meet with the highest possibility of winning. The second through sixth place spots, however, where in the air until the race ended.
The biggest upset of the race was for Southwestern College, which finished third in the Southern California Championship, but finished sixth at Fresno.
For the women’s team, next year at least half of this years team is returning.
Most of the runners are already beginning to put this cross-country season behind them. Some of the athlete are preparing to be part of the track and field team for next semester.
“Looking back, there’s nothing we would’ve done differently during this season,” Lofgren said. “Everybody did everything right and everyone worked extremely hard.”
“We ran steady all season long,” Lofgren said. “We won some big invitationals in a highly competitive conference.”
