Men Take Fourth, Women Take Fifth at Golden West Cross Country Invitational
The El Camino College cross country team competed in their third race of the season on Friday at the Golden West Cross Country Invitational at Central Park in Huntington Beach, Calif. In an invitational that featured four of the state's top men teams and five of the state's top women teams, the men's team took a solid fourth place overall finish in the 4-mile race, and the women's team earned a fifth place finish in the 5K race.
Deana Takaoka helped lead the Warriors women's team to a fifth place finish in the 5K race, which was won by Mt. Sac. Takaoka finished in 12th place with a time of 20:57. Savannah Sehanuk came in close behind in 20th place with a time of 21:24 and Brianna Harmon came in right behind her in 23rd place at 21:44. Sarah Simpson (34rd; 22:11) and Jasmine Guzman (121st; 35:15) rounded out the top-5 finishers for the Warriors.
On the men's side El Camino finished with a solid top four finish coming behind some of the state's top ranked teams in Mt. Sac, Glendale and Riverside. Carson Bix led the Warriors with an outstanding 5th place finish, crossing the line at 22:35. Caleb Ko finished in the top-ten with a solid 9th place at 22:40. Mijo Sestich (25th; 23:01), Brian Huang (29th; 23:06), and Michael Yaskovitz (35th; 23:16) rounded out the top-5 ECC's top 5 finishers for the men's team. However, there is speculation that the top 30 racers (after three miles) would have come in at faster times than what they had run. The course was poorly marked and those 30 runners ran .32 miles off course during the third mile before getting on track. Bix, Yaskovitz, and Matt Arruda (46th, 23:33) were the three unfortunate ECC runners who ran an additional .32 miles during the race.
After a bye this weekend, the Warriors will return to action on Friday, October 6th at Irvine "Brubaker" Invitational at Irvine Regional Park in Irvine, Calif.