By George Maldonado and Ramiro Bacilio
East Los Angeles College women’s and men’s cross country competed at the state championships on Nov. 22 at Woodward Park in Fresno.
The women who placed in the top 100 of women athletes for ELAC were sophomore Laura Aceves who placed third, freshmen Stephanie Trelles and sophomore Ruby Padilla.
These women along with others helped ELAC to a 19th place finish.
For the women it was Laura Aceves who placed the top score of all ELAC women athletes and finished with a time of 17:57.8 minutes.
Not to mention to finish off the season she was awarded with the 2014 South Coast Conference Women’s Athlete of the Year Award.
She actually planned on breaking a record in the CCCAA women’s cross country state finals, previously held by ELAC’s Sylvia Mosqueda in 1985 however it was actually broken by Southwestern College’s Aminat Olowora.
The winner of the women’s race was freshman athlete Olowora who had just elbowed her way past Aceves winning with a time of 16:59.7 minutes.
The record that was held by Mosqueda was the biggest topic over the last week because it was a record held for many years. It’s astonishing that Aceves was a favorite to win and it was Olowora who surprised the fans as well as the other athletes.
Aceves plans to attend a four year university as a transfer and be competing with another level of athletes. She also plans to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, although the races she intends to compete are unknown at this moment.
The men’s race was a lot different it placed 21st in the CCCAA men’s state championship because of loss of players and injuries that led to inconsistent scores. There were two runners fell on difficult times and couldn’t end up racing for ELAC which hurt the school because these athletes meant a lot to the team’s success.
The top three men that had competed for ELAC were sophomore Andres De La Cruz who placed 10th, sophomore Christian Flores placed 39th and placing 167th was freshmen Salvador Assencio. The strongest competitor was Andres De La Cruz even though he competed in a tough season.
The big upset was that De La Cruz was either All-First Team or All-Second Team along with other miscellaneous awards fell all the way to the 10th place for CCCAA men’s cross country state championship.
He had a strong career at ELAC even though he was already a student at a CSULA, he decided to enroll at ELAC just to compete in cross country.
The season result wasn’t what the ELAC athletes thought it was going to be when it state championships were over, even though individually the athletes had some success. The goal for the athletes not transferring remains the same and the hard work to be the best will be focused on the upcoming season.
ELAC Individual Women’s Team Results
From 213 Women State Finalists from over 600 Statewide
1. Laura Aceves** 3rd place overall, 17:57.8 minutes, All-American status
2. Ruby Padilla** (92), 20:24.4, personal record*
3. Stephanie Trelles (110), 20:40.1
4. Viridiana Hernandez (122), 20:51.8, personal record
5. Guadalupe Yanez** (141), 21:22.9
6. Luz Badillo (156), 22:04.7
7. Amy Herrera* (166), 22:40.6, personal record*
*Padilla and Herrera ran personal records to end their ELAC cross country careers
ELAC Individual Men’s Results
From 213 Men State Finalists from over 625 Statewide
1. Cristian Flores** 57th place, 21:26.8 minutes
2. Andres De La Cruz** (60), 21:28.1
** ELAC sophomores (all other Huskies are freshman)
Cross Country State Finals Women’s Team Results
1. Mt. San Antonio College, 78 points
2. College of the Canyons, 104
3. Glendale Community College, 109
4. Hartnell College, 159
5. Cerritos College, 186
6. Riverside City College, 217
7. Southwestern College, 257
8. San Diego Mesa College, 288
9. Los Angeles Trade Tech College, 303
10. American River College, 312
11. Bakersfield College, 355
12. College of the Sequoias, 384
13. Santa Barbara City College, 388
14. San Joaquin Delta College, 408
15. Saddleback College, 424
16. San Bernardino Valley College, 430
17. Pasadena City College, 442
18. Modesto Junior College, 450
19. East Los Angeles College, 468
20. Butte College, 497
21. Cuyamaca College, 519
22. Ventura College, 539
23. El Camino College, 558
24. Citrus College, 582
25. Santa Rosa Junior College, 595
26. De Anza College, 610
27. Fresno City College, 612