East L.A. College freshman Daniel Morales competes in the CCCAA Cross Country State Championships, Saturday, Nov. 17 at Woodward Park in Fresno. (Photo by Tadzio Garcia)
East L.A. College freshman Daniel Morales competes in the CCCAA Cross Country State Championships, Saturday, Nov. 17 at Woodward Park in Fresno. (Photo by Tadzio Garcia)

ELAC men’s cross country results from State Finals

Fresno, Calif. — East Los Angeles College freshman Daniel Morales (Bravo Medical Magnet School) was the lone Husky competing in the CCCAA Cross Country State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.

The meet was held with poor air quality due to the Northern California wildfire smoke, which did not have an effect on the runners according to host Fresno City College.

Morales, an English major, placed in the top one third of the 169 runners in the men’s 4-mile race. He ran his second fastest time of the season in 21:39.3 minutes. With about half of the runners from Northern California, Morales finished ahead of all but 10 of them. El Camino’s Carson Bix took first place winning the men’s individual title in 20:07.06.

Morales was the top runner in every meet this year for ELAC. At the SoCal Preview Meet, the Huskies first 4-mile competition, Morales finished 22:12.3 minutes in 92nd place out of 313 men. At the SoCal Championships two weeks ago, Morales ran his season personal record in 20:39.8 and improved to 47th place.

Morales is eligible to return next year. He improved three minutes and 14 seconds this year. If he improves 40 seconds next season, he will break the 20-minute mark, something that hasn’t been done in the post season since Northern California runner Luis Luna of American River College won the 2013 state title in 19:58.3. Southern California’s Omar Cortes of L.A. Trade Tech won the 2012 SoCal title in 19:48.5.

ELAC head coach Kathryn Kelly did not respond to messages to comment.

Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index or on Facebook at ELAC Huskies Athletics (@elachuskiesathletics).

submitted by Tadzio Garcia