Wolverines Venture to Riverside to Take on D1 Programs

Wolverines Venture to Riverside to Take on D1 Programs

The San Bernardino Valley College men’s cross country team didn't have far to travel to race in a meet after the SBVC Invitational was cancelled due to field repairs at the San Bernardino Soccer Complex.

The Wolverines instead competed at the University of California, Riverside Highlander Invitational on Oct. 14. This was the team’s fifth meet of the year, and second raced at 6K (3.75 miles). The field was stacked with stiff competition from six NCAA Division 1 schools representing the Big West Conference, plus UC Merced which is an NAIA member. CCCAA foes Glendale and College of the Canyons rounded out the field.

Cal State Fullerton won the meet, scoring 58 points. SBVC took tenth (270 points) in the field of twelve scoring teams, competing without the services of top freshman Michael Ramirez (Grand Terrace) who rested a minor injury.

Freshman Carlos De La Torre (Patriot), sped to a school record of 18:27 (4:57 per mile average) over the 6K distance to claim 21st place in the field of 124 runners. De La Torre was the third true freshman to cross the line and bettered his 6K previous best of 20:01 set at the season opening University of Redlands Invitational on Sept. 2.

Freshman Eduardo Toris (Hemet) clocked 19:09 for 61st place, which was 1:16 better than his first 6K. Rounding out the scoring five were frosh Humberto Guzman (Rubidoux) 19:20 (69th) and Chris Bedolla (Apple Valley) 19:21 (71st) and sophomore John Hernandez (Canyon Springs) 19:35 (84th). All three ran faster than at Redlands, with Bedolla dropping 1:41 off of his previous 6K time.

Also competing for Valley were Mauricio Ramos (Big Bear) 20:16, Fernando Zuniga (Arroyo Valley) 20:29, Daniel Aponte (Eisenhower) 20:31, Getzemani Diaz (Arroyo Valley 21:17, Abraham Covarrubias (Pacific) 21:29, and Anjel Ramirez (Arroyo Valley) 21:35.

Valley now beings the championship phase of their season with the Pacific Coast Conference Championships on Oct. 27 in Oceanside. The Wolverines will look to add another PCC title to their streak of 21 consecutive conference championships.