Sweltering 90 degree temperatures greeted runners in Woodley Park at the Southern California Cross Country Championships last Saturday.
Cuyamaca College finished 10th overall in the women’s 5k race, while the men finished 16th in the 4-mile run. Grossmont College did not qualify for the team championships, with only one runner in the event.
Sweltering 90 degree temperatures greeted runners in Woodley Park at the Southern California Cross Country Championships last Saturday.
Cuyamaca College finished 10th overall in the women’s 5k race, while the men finished 16th in the 4-mile run. Grossmont College did not qualify for the team championships, with only one runner in the event.
Nikki Buck, the Lady Coyotes’ top individual finisher with a time of 19:10.9, placed 19th out of 177 runners and said the heat was not an issue.
“It was hot on my feet, I felt it,” she said. “Got a few blisters, but we run in El Cajon, in the heat, all the time. That’s not a huge deal.”
Cuyamaca women’s coach Anthony Garcia said the team could have done better, although they are still within range to meet their goals at the CCCAA State Championship on November 22.
“Our goal is to be top 10 in the state meet,” he said. “To be top 10 in state, you have to be close to top 10 here. Northern California normally has about a team or two who can compete with the top 10 from Southern California. So we’re just a tad off of what our goals are, but with two weeks to go… We’ll be ready to get that.”
Men’s coach Tim Seaman, however, said the Coyotes under-performed.
“I figured we’d be somewhere between 10th and 12th place and I would have been happy with that,” he said. “Now we’ve got to buckle down a little bit… Last week, we mentally peaked a little bit, not physically. I think it was hard to maintain that the whole week, the enthusiasm of gearing up for the conference meet.”
Kymberli Callier, Grossmont’s lone participant, finished with a time of 23:12.1 and said she was excited to have qualified for the event.
“I could have done better, definitely,” she said. “But I tried and it was a good experience and you can always learn from it.”
Seaman said he has taken in the lessons from the regional meet and will adjust his practice schedule.
“I’m going to give them an extra day of recovery, so instead of going hard on Monday we’re going to go hard on Tuesday,” he said. “Mostly just focusing on getting the guys to get enough sleep and to eat properly, which is always the hardest task for college athletes.”
Daniel Gomez’s 21:29.9 time in the four-mile run was Cuyamaca’s top performance, although it was only the 54th fastest time in the field of 203 runners.
“This course, it was fun,” he said. “It was a painful course, a lot of potholes and all that, but we did our best. Can’t be upset with that.”
Buck said Cuyamaca is already looking forward to its trip to Fresno, where the State Championship will be held..
“We had just started our tapering off and recovering,” she said. “We’re just gonna continue resting, taking it easy and not doing anything crazy. (Keep getting) lots of sleep, hydrating, eating well and all of those little things that are going to give us those extra few points.”
