A two-point margin separated the men’s cross country team from taking first place last Friday at Pierce College.

The Warriors, with 37 points, placed in second place just behind the Mt. SAC Mounties, who won the meet with 39 points.

With the second-place finish, the Warriors qualified for the Southern California Regional Championships Saturday at Cuesta College at 1 p.m.

“We’re not going think about it anymore,” sophomore Kendall Lopez said. “We are just thinking positively and hopefully will get the best out of all of us.”

Some of the competition that the Warriors will face are Orange Coast and San Bernardino, the top two teams in Southern California.

Coach Dean Lofgren is not worried because he knows his team on a good day can be among the the top three or even the best.

The team is also confident it can win because it is familiar with the Cuesta course, having run successfully there about a month ago.

“The Cuesta course is very challenging, but we ran very well there in an early season invitational, so we anticipate the same Saturday,” Lofgren said.

There will be 24 teams and nearly 200 runners participating at Cuesta.

However, only half of those teams will advance to the state championships in Fresno.

Last Friday, the Warriors ran an exceptional race, considering that the flu bug hit their top two runners.

Freshman Tyler Stover and Bill Rogers stepped up and ran a smart race to help the Warriors maintain pace with the Mounties.

Rogers, in addition to battling the flu had to run with an injured left thigh.

“Both Stover and Rogers were sick early last week and then mildly injured,” Lofgren said.

“I thought they may not even be able to compete last Friday, and to do as well as they did is a tribute to their talents and fortitude,” he said.

However, losing to Mt. SAC by such a close margin was tough to swallow for the men.

“To know we could have been champions by two points, it’s really hard,” Stover said.