Cohen Earns All-American Nod as Lofgren Calls it a Career at State

FRESNO, Calif. --- Sophomore Aaron Cohen finished in the top-10 as the Warriors competed at the 3C2A State Championships on Saturday morning at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif.

In addition, head coach Dean Lofgren coached the final meet of his illustrious ECC career that spanned 36 years at the head of the cross country program.

On Saturday, Cohen earned J.C. All-American and 3C2A First Team All-State honors after finishing in eighth place overall with a time of 21:01.7. It was a gutsy finish for the sophomore after he was in 36th place after the first mile but he steadily moved up the ranks until crossing the line in eighth place in the field consisting of 192 total runners.

Cohen's finish helped pace the Warriors to a 10th-place overall team finish in the 24-team field, posting 325 points. San Diego Mesa won the state title with 47 points while Mt. San Antonio (98) and San Bernardino Valley (144) rounded out the podium.

For the Warriors, Alan Canales finished in 41st place with a time of 21:52.9 and was followed by Angel Yanez (89th, 22:32.9), Ty McCormick (111th, 22:51.5), Aiden Nakai (123rd, 23:00.3), Bradley Barbosa (134th, 23:12.6), and Juan Avellana (146th, 23:29.0).

On the women's side, the Warriors placed 18th overall in a 23-team field with 390 points. Arianna Hurtado was the top women's finisher for ECC as she crossed the line in 20:38.2, improving on her time from last year by more than two minutes. She placed 50th overall with Ayla Barbosa (93rd, 21:31.0), Emily Gutierrez (21:42.2), Elaine Dugmore (21:50.5) and Denise Delgado (138th, 22:47.3) rounding out the Warriors' competitors.

San Diego Mesa took home the state title with 85 points with Clovis (125) finishing second and Mt. San Antonio placing third (390).

As for Lofgren, the exceptional coach called it a coaching career after taking over the Warriors cross country program in 1989. During his tenure with the Warriors, Lofgren coached two 3C2A State Championship teams; the 1990 women's team and the 1992 men's squad. Lofgren also coached three individual state title winners in Carson Bix (2018) and David Cardona (2010) on the men's side and Maria Lopez (1995) on the women's.

Lofgren has garnered six 3C2A and 26 South Coast Conference Coach-of-the-Year Honors. In 2017, Lofgren was inducted into the 5CTCA Hall of Fame. Lofgren's teams have also won 14 combined South Coast Conference titles (seven men's, seven women's).