Pirates claim fifth straight crown

FRESNO -- Orange Coast College’s women’s cross country team made it five in a row, winning the California Community College state title Saturday at Woodward Park.

Jewel Butler and Araceli Huerta led the way with top-10 finishes for the Pirates. Butler ran the three-mile course in 19 minutes, 8 seconds to place fourth, and Huerta finished in 19:18 to place seventh.

They were followed by Elda Hernandez in 14th (19:32), Samantha Cadwell in 15th (19:33) and Kelly Oelschlager in 22nd (19:41).

OCC won handily over second-place Riverside, scoring 62 points to the Tigers’ 161.

In the men’s championship, OCC finished 18th overall. Mike Arciniaga led the Pirates, finishing 78th in a time of 22:10 over the four-mile course. Jesus Salazar was the team’s other finisher in the top 100, placing 87th in 22:15.

CROSS COUNTRY

NAIA Championships

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Vanguard University’s women finished 13th and the Lions came away with two All-Americans at the national championships, held at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park.

Grace Jepngetich led the Vanguard women with a 17th place finish, running the five-kilometer course in a time of 18 minutes, 7.07 seconds for the best finish ever by a Lions runner at the NAIA championships.

She was followed by teammates Rebecca Sopp in 44th place (18:54.65), Christol McDonald in 65th (19:16.05), Laura Bowman (19:44.30) and Olivia Amstad (20:03.35).

On the men’s side, Humberto Rojas ran 25:11.45 over the eight-kilometer course to finish 26th, becoming Vanguard’s first men’ All-America in cross country. Teammate Matt Meyer finished 63rd with a time of 25:44.15.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Cerritos 3, Orange Coast 1

CERRITOS -- The Pirates fell to the Falcons in overtime in the first round of the Southern California playoffs on Saturday.

Down 1-0 in the second half, Orange Coast midfielder Stacy Shoop beat Cerritos goalkeeper Elizabeth Sanchez to a loose ball and scored the team’s lone goal.

Cerritos scored on a penalty kick in the first overtime period, and added a second goal in the second overtime. Orange Coast finishes the season 11-7-4.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL

Pacific def. UC Irvine

IRVINE -- Amanda Vazquez had 21 kills and six blocks for the Anteaters, who lost their Big West Conference finale, 30-26, 30-26, 25-30, 23-30, 15-9.

Lauren Kellerman added 13 kills and five aces, Jennifer Moser posted 25 digs, and Christa Conom had 53 assists and nine digs for UCI (10-19, 3-11 in conference).

The Anteaters close the season Saturday at home against Pittsburgh.