Women’s Cross Country sends one to State

SANTA CLARITA, CA —  For the eighth straight year, the East Los Angeles College women’s cross country will be represented in the CCCCAA State Championships.

Sophomore Sylvia Calvache (Rancho Mirage High School) is the 22nd Husky since 2010 to move on to the state’s center stage, the state finals, out of the SoCal Championships held at Central Park in Santa Clarita today.

Calvache, the only Husky from the women’s team competing at SoCal received an at-large bid afterwards to the state finals for her time of 21 minutes and 25.7 seconds.

“I’m amazed and excited,” said ELAC Head Coach James Maynard upon receiving the bid for ELAC.

Calvache ran 1:41.7 faster than her time at the SoCal Preview Meet held earlier this season on the same course.

Calvache progressively improved during the season and ran her fastest times in the last three meets. She ran a personal record against mostly four-year university competition at the CSU Fullerton Titan Invitational two weeks ago.

The State Championships will be at Woodward Park in Fresno on Saturday, Nov. 18. The women’s 3.1-mile race begins at 10 a.m.

The SCC Championships

The Huskies placed eighth at the South Coast Conference Championships last week at Mt. SAC.

Calvache placed 24th in 21:04.7, which was fast enough for her to receive an at-large bid to SoCal.

Freshman Daisy Ortiz (Warren HS) placed 33rd in 23:13.0 and outsprinted LA Harbor freshman Alyssa DeFazio at the finish line by 2.6 seconds.

Freshman Alejandra Martinez (Bell HS) finished in 24:32.6. Freshman Chelsea Sanchez-Flores (Garfield HS) finished two places behind Martinez in 24:48.9.

Freshman Maria Dominguez (Maywood Academy) ran her first race of the season and finished in 33:50.3, which was 10 seconds faster than El Camino freshman Jasmine Guzman.

The entire team is eligible to transfer to the track and field team.

submitted by Tadzio Garcia