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Community college cross country: Coasters sweep

NEWPORT BEACH - Make it six in a row and the first for Orange Coast

College’s cross country teams guided by Coach John Goldman.

The OCC women’s squad won its sixth straight Orange Empire Conference

title and the men claimed its first at the OEC Championships, hosted by

the Pirates at the Newport Upper Bay Nature Reserve course Saturday.

OCC’s Michelle Icban was crowned the OEC women’s champion with her

title-winning time, 19:09, on the 5,000-meter course.

“It’s exciting, especially for the men,” said Goldman, who is in his

sixth season at Coast. “(The OCC men have) always been on the verge. This

is a really big win for us.”

The Pirates had finished runner-up for the past three years until

climbing over the hump Saturday.

OCC sophomore Ryan Bousquet led the Pirates with a second-place

finish, four seconds short of OEC champ Jose Herrera (5:01) of Santa Ana

on the 6,500-meter course. It was the first time this season Bousquet did

not grab first place. Goldman said the sophomore runner, who transferred

from the University of Arizona, battled a bit of illness, but he’ll be at

full strength when he and Herrera meet again in the Southern California

Championships at Antelope Valley (Lancaster) Saturday.

Nevertheless, the men placed eight runners in the top 20 to win the

title with 20 points, a 27-point differential of second-place Santa Ana.

OCC’s Joel Guzman (fourth in 21:11), Juan Carrillo (ninth in 21:30),

Ricky Rehanek (12th in 21:38), Jason Foutch (13th in 21:45), Victor Lopez

(15th in 21:55), Allen Childress (16th in 21:56) and Mark Cipolla (20th

in 22:18) also contributed efforts to win the conference title.

Bousquet, Guzman and Carrillo, with their top-10 finishes, earned

All-Conference honors.

On the women’s side, OCC placed seven runners in the top 10 to

overwhelmingly distance itself from the competition. The Pirates finished

with 20 points, while second-place Riverside came in with 71.

Lindsay Allen (19:53), Katie Mais (20:13) and Suzette Dinoso (20:37)

came in fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. And Roseann Peters

(20:46), Newport Harbor High product Natalie St. Andre (20:50) and

Heather Huggins (21:06) finished eight, ninth and 10th, respectively. The

six women, and Icban, also boasted All-Conference laurels.

Jennifer Urbieta (14th in 21:33), Natalie Elliott (17th in 21:42),

Julia Crawfis (19th in 21:53) and Latrice Donaldson (20th in 21:58) also

finished in the top 20.

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