Orange Coast College Women Finish Second at State Meet! OCC Men Place Fifth

FRESNO - The Orange Coast College cross country programs continued their fine tradition in 2011, capping off a solid season with a pair of top-five team finishes at the California Community College State Meet, held at Woodward Park.

For the OCC women, the Pirates were topped only by state powerhouse Glendale and finished second overall with 115 points. The Vaqueros (30 points) used four top-10 performances to run away with the state title, literally.

Leading the Coast crew was sophomore standout Analicia Silva, who used the near-perfect conditions to rip through the 5K course with a fourth-place time of 18 minutes, 21.68 seconds, just 22 seconds off of the championship pace, set by Glendale's Karen Rosas (17:59.61).

Chelsea Clifford came through with a strong run and posted a top-20 time, finishing 14th with an 18:58.19.

Other point-producing performances for the Pirates include Carmille Garcia (28th, 19:23.98), Grace Adams-Handy (34th, 19:28.13) and Sulema Sanchez (49th, 19:43.07).

On the men's side, the Pirates finished fifth overall with a team score of 202. The top four teams ahead of OCC were champion American River (49 points), San Bernardino Valley (91 points), San Diego Mesa (101) and L.A. Trade Tech (133 points).

Setting the pace for the Pirates was sophomore Zachary Ellis, who cracked the top-20 with a 19th-place time of 20:46.09 on the four-mile course.

Other top performances for Coast included Hugo Gutierrez (33rd, 20:59.19), Austin Little (43rd, 21:08.56), Michael Taylor (44th, 21:10.35) and Dillon Scott (72nd, 21:30.5).