Mt. SAC Men’s Cross Country Wins CCCAA Southern California Regional Championship

Manuel Fernandez (20:26) California Community College Athletic Association Southern California Regional Champion

By John M. Sherrard

(Santa Clarita, CA) For the second time in the last three years, the Mt. SAC Men's Cross Country Team captured the California Community College Athletic Association Southern California Regional Championship.  The event held at Central Park, in Santa Clarita, on Friday was highlighted by a Mountie one-two individual finish. Manuel Fernandez (20:26) took the individual title, while Anthony Alfaro (20:37) finished in second on the 4-mile course.  Both Fernandez and Alfaro put a large gap over the third place finisher, finishing over 30 seconds ahead of Raymond Lopez (Glendale College) who finished in 21:10.

Fernandez, competing against 196 runners from 28 colleges, won his fifth consecutive race dating back to September 30th at the Williamette Invitational in Salem, Oregon.

Mt. SAC scored 34 points, placing five runners in the top 14 positions, easily defeating runner-up and defending state champion Riverside City College with 80 points.

Rounding out the top five runners for the Mounties were – Luis Huerta, 6th (21:21), Jose Melchor, 11th (21:24) and Trelani Waters, 14th (21:25).

Hector Peralta was 16th with a time of 21:33.

Next up for the Mounties is the season finale CCCAA State Championships which will be held at Woodward Park (Fresno, CA) on Saturday, November 18th.

The top ranked Mounties, captured their only cross country state championship in 1989 and have one individual champion, Ozzie Pina in 2002.  Despite capturing only one state team championship, the men's team has been a one of the top programs for many decades, finishing in second an incredible 12 times.  

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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.