The Orange Empire Conference (OEC) men's and women's cross country championships took place Friday morning as the hunt for a conference title was on the line. The Orange Coast College men's program reigned supreme by seven points, while the Saddleback College Gauchos women's program hauled in the title by a four-point margin.
MEN
The Pirates snapped Riverside City College's four-year conference title run with a seven point spread to take home the crown. Two runners landed in the top-three for the Pirates as freshman Brian Soriano-Guzman (22:06.8) and freshman Ty Savely (22:09.5) landed in second place and third place. Freshman Yuki Watanabe (22:35.9) placed seventh overall to cap the top runners for the Pirates.
Santa Ana's Giovanni Barajas-Ramirez placed first overall to haul in the 2019 OEC Male Runner of the Meet award. He finished his jaunt at 21:48.5. Below are the final results.
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS |
| 1 | Orange Coast | 37 |
| 2 | Riverside | 44 |
| 3 | Fullerton | 89 |
| 4 | Santiago Canyon | 125 |
| 5 | Santa Ana | 127 |
| 6 | Saddleback | 132 |
| 7 | Golden West | 178 |
WOMEN
Saddleback edged out Riverside by a mere four points to haul in the conference title. Their victory marks the Gaucho's second-consecutive conference title.
Sophomore Dana McGrath was named the OEC Women's Runner of the Meet following a first place finish at a time of 20:54.0. Sophomore Cayla Porter (21:19.2) placed fourth overall and missed the podium by approximately four seconds.
Riverside's Emilinana Merida Cano (21:10.8) and Ariel Martinez (21:14.6) placed consecutively to round out the top three.
| PLACE | TEAM | POINTS |
| 1 | Saddleback | 27 |
| 2 | Riverside | 31 |
| 3 | Orange Coast | 76 |
| 4 | Santiago Canyon | 126 |
| 5 | Santa Ana | 130 |
| 6 | Fullerton | 134 |
(Release by Nicho DellaValle, Riverside City College)