Both the men and women's teams for Riverside City College brought home the championship trophy at the Orange Empire Conference Championships today. It was an unusually warm morning for this time of year, however it made for excellent running conditions at Buena Park's Ralph B. Clark Regional Park (hosted by Fullerton College). Women - RESULT Locking in on a perfect 15 team score, the Tigers pulled off a rare and special feat. Riverside City squad took first place for the first time since 2017. Golden West College placed second overall with a team score of 50. RCC took the top two spots with sophomore Briana Rodriguez crossing the finish line first to earn the OEC Individual Championship with a time of 20:53.2. Freshman Elani Huntley gave Rodriguez a run for her money as both were forced to race each other down the stretch. Huntley finished in second with a fine finish of 20:53.6. Orange Coast's Jackie Rodriguez placed third with a time of 20:58.6, while Olivia Knobbe of Saddleback took fourth at 21:10.1. Riverside's Helena Valdez took the fifth spot with a finish of 21:26.7. Men - RESULTS The Riverside City College men's team has been nothing short of dominate the last decade (8 titles in the last 11 seasons), and today was no different as the Tigers brought home the Orange Empire Conference hardware with six runners finishing in the top ten with a team score of 21. Orange Coast place second overall with a team score of 65, while Saddleback (70) took third, Santa Ana (129) placed fourth, Santiago Canyon (135) placed fifth, and Fullerton (138) rounded it out with at sixth. Sophomore runner Abel Ramos won the OEC Individual Championship for Riverside City with the best time of the day of 21:55.8. He is the first to win it for RCC since Enrique Villa won it in 2018. Santa Ana's Also Trujillo ran a strong race taking second with a finish of 22:00.5. Placing third was RCC's Mario Tavares, who finished at 22:04.6. Tavares' teammate Raen Reyes was not too far behind grabbing fourth at 22:21.3, and in the fifth spot was Brandon Pizano of Saddleback at 22:27.5.
Release by Phil Thurman, Fullerton SID