Riverside Men's Cross COuntry Claims 13th Title in 15 Years

November 4, 2024

Riverside City College continued its dominance in the Orange Empire Conference, claiming its 13th conference title in 15 years Friday afternoon. The Tigers had six runners in the top 10, helping the Tigers post 23 points as a team. Orange Coast College took second with 40 points and Saddleback College grabbed third with 84 points.

It was a battle between two Tigers for the individual title as Kailil O'Brien just edged out his teammate by less than a second. O'Brien won the championship with a time of 20 minutes, 39.07 seconds, while Anthony Ruiz was just on his tail in 20:39.83 to take second.

Daniel Nava and Jorge Guillen took fifth and sixth with respective times of 21:09.65 and 21:26.86. Damion Spralls finished in ninth in 21:37.26, followed by Luke Catherwood in 10th with a time of 21:39.53. All six Tigers earned all-conference honors with their top 14 finishes.

Edward Garcia clocked in at 21:47.85 (16th) to round out the scorers for RCC, while Joshua West was right behind him with a time of 21:51.75 (17th).

"I'm really proud of this team," said head coach Jim McCarron. "This race was supposed to be close, but everybody stepped up. Anthony and Kailil beat one of the better runners in the state from OCC: Jimmy Dominguez, who beat them last year at conference. We have some tuning up to do before SoCal next week and State on November 23. The guys will be ready."

Riverside heads to the SoCal Championship next Friday at Chaffey College.

(Sammi Wellman, Riverside)