With the biggest races of the season still to come, the San Bernardino Valley College cross country teams traveled to Chaffey College on Saturday for one final tune-up race.
Both teams came home with the top team prizes, winning the Chaffey Invitiational with strong performances by runners from both teams.
On the men's side, the Wolverines had four of the top five finishers, and six of the top ten on the 4-mile course. Vicente Quiroz was the first across the line for the Wolverines, finishing in 21 minutes, 50.2 seconds for second place overall in the 65-runner field. Quiroz led at the 3-mile mark, but dropped back over the last mile on the challenging course around the Chaffey College campus.
Elijah McBroom closed hard in the final 700 meters to finish third at 21:55.5. Fercis Torres wasn't far behind, finishing fourth at 22:07.2, with Christopher Valderrama stopping the clock at 22:18.1 for fifth place.
"The guys ran really well," said head coach Jim Ratigan. "This course is not fast, with lots of turns and uphills that are deceiving."
Brothers Kevin Nava and Alan Nava closed our the top 10 finishers with Kevin finishing eighth at 22:48.4 and Alan tenth at 22:57.2. Jacob Mendiola, who has been one of the team's top finishers at previous events, battled through illness to finish 13th at 23:17.0.
The Wolverines are currently ranked No. 4 in the state in polling, and they are using that to fuel their preparation for the upcoming races.
"We have a target on our backs," Ratigan said. "We're using it a fuel to finish on the podium at state in November."
In the women's race, the Wolverines saw similar results, with five Wolverines finishing in the top 10 in the 42-runner field. It is the first-known team championship at an invitational in team history.
Leading the way for SBVC was Sara Jaquez, who completed the 5-kilometer course at 20:41.0 for fifth place. Audrey Garcia picked up the pace in the back half of the race to finish sixth at 21:02.6, with Britney Solis (21:10.9) and Ximena Martinez (21:11.9) not far behind for seventh and eighth, respectively. Yoselin Canseco closed out the top 10, with a 21:54.3 finish.