Women runners have big shoes to fill
MISSION BAY, CA — Relying on the strength of four returning sophomores and one standout freshman, the women’s cross country team placed 20th out of 24 teams at the 2015 Southern California Preview meet.
East Los Angeles College, which finished 19th at state last year, has big shoes to fill returning without five of its 2014 state finalists.
All-American Laura Aceves, who finished third at the state finals last season, graduated and transferred to Cal State San Bernardino. Also gone are Ruby Padilla, Stephanie Trelles, Guadalupe Yanez and Amy Herrera.
At the SoCal Preview, ELAC finished last among South Coast Conference teams. Mt. San Antonio and Cerritos colleges finished in second and fifth places, respectively. Both teams are tied at No. 3-ranked in the state.
SCC rivals El Camino, Pasadena City and Long Beach City colleges took 15th through 17th places. L.A. Trade Tech College dropped women’s cross country. College of the Canyons took first place.
“It was exciting to see the team finish as it did, even though we didn’t run the way we planned,” said ELAC Coach Louis Ramirez. “Our top three runners did well. We need to bring up the times of our No. 4 and No. 5 runners.”
Sophomore Viridiana Hernandez (South Gate High School) finished in the No. 1 Husky position with a personal record of 21 minutes and 22.9 seconds and established herself as the fastest runner on the women’s team. She placed 52nd out pf 232 runners.
Sophomore Melissa Preciado (Bell Gardens HS) also ran a personal best to take the No. 4 spot on the team.
Sandwiched between Hernandez and Preciado were freshman Rosa Arellano (Schurr HS) who ran 22:13.2 and sophomore Luz Badillo (Alhambra HS) who ran 22:36.0. Sophomore Maybell Sanchez (Alhambra HS) rounded out the scoring for ELAC.
“(Arellano) did exceptionally well. She is coming off an illness and not yet running where we want her to be,” said Ramirez.
Non-scoring Huskies were freshmen Gabrielle Trenado (Schurr HS) and Jazmin Ortiz (Bell Gardens HS). Missing from the first meet were Josselin Esteban (L.A. Teacher Prep Academy) and Elisa Mondragon (Garfield HS).
ELAC competes in the Golden West Central Park Classic Friday, Sept. 25 at Central Park in Huntington Beach. Races begin at 9 a.m.