Rosales-Coria repeats to help Harbor secure first team title; Capetillo leads Mt. SAC to back-to-back championships

By Alex Valladares for DyeStat

One team continued to build its legacy, while another was looking to start one of its own Friday at the California Community College Athletic Association Southern California Regional Championships.

The Mt. San Antonio College men’s team captured its second straight SoCal championship title, with the L.A. Harbor women’s team winning its first in program history at Don Knabe Park in Cerritos, Calif.

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Mt. SAC, the defending men’s state champions, placed all five scoring runners in the top 19 for a 59-97 victory over El Camino College.

Salvador Capetillo led the Mounties, as the sophomore clocked an impressive 19:01.28 in the 4-mile race, just missing a chance to eclipse the 19-minute mark.

“I was going for it hard,” Capetillo said.  “My goal since the beginning of the season was to go sub-19 minutes. When I saw the clock at 18:30 coming down the back stretch, I was going for it.”

Jose Melchor placed eighth (19:48.5), Colby Penn came in 14th (20:01.2), Ralph Mendoza was 17th (20:09.2) and Luis Huerta took 19th (20:10) for the Mounties, who will be looking to win their third state title in program history at the state finals Nov. 17 at Woodward Park in Fresno, Calif.

“It’s always a great feeling to win,” Capetillo said. “We’re confident we can go to state in two weeks and do the same thing we did today.”

Led by sophomore Carson Bix, El Camino College finished second and is one of 14 Southern California teams to earn an automatic berth to the state finals.

Bix clocked 19:40.23, with Ethan Comeaux finishing 13th (19:59), Manny Gil coming in 15th (20:01.6) and Matt Arruda was 21st (20:10.3) for the Warriors.

Freshman Stefen Rasmuson and Isaiah Labra finished third and sixth, respectively, to lead San Diego Mesa to a third-place finish with 109 points.

“It was really nice to come out and perform as a team,” said Labra, who clocked 19:47.7.

“Our goal was today to get top three and I’m glad we got to do that.”

Rasmuson clocked 19:41.8, followed by Cuyamaca’s Kibrom Elias (19:41.9) and Glendale’s Marcelo Ramirez (19:42) in fourth and fifth place.

Santa Monica’s Leonard McComas was seventh (19:48.1), Riverside’s Enrique Villa took ninth (19:49.5) and Moorpark’s Andrew Teasdale (19:55.2) rounded out the top 10.

Brenda Rosales-Coria won her second straight women’s individual SoCal title, as she clocked 17:15.1 to lead L.A. Harbor to a 53-110 victory over defending state champion Mt. SAC.

“I knew that today had to be fast,” Rosales-Coria said. “We knew we had to take it out fast from the get go. There were more teams, so we knew we had to run our race.”

The SeaHawks got solid efforts from their supporting cast, as Olivia Quezada finished sixth (18:09), Cynthia Melendez was eighth (18:15), Andrea Gonzalez Macias was 18th (18:45.0) and Estrella Montiel took 20th (18:52.6).

“We’re one step closer and we’re going to continue to do what we have been doing,” Melendez said.

Samantha Barajas finished second (17:26.80) and Sophia Cortina (18:07.3) placed fifth to lead Moorpark, which finished fifth with 141 points.

Ventura College’s Olivia Burton came in third (17:44.7), Rebecca Ruiz clocked 17:48.9 to finish fourth and Sadie Encinas finished at 18:15.1 to place ninth for Mt. SAC.

Bakersfield College’s Gabriella Lugo had perhaps the biggest turnaround of any individual runner as she placed seventh (18:13.4) after she finished 83rd as a freshman last year.

“I had a lot of health problems and I was at the doctors all the time and it wore me out a lot last year,” Lugo said. “This year has been a total (180). I’m healthier and I do feel myself getting better every race.”

Noemi Apreza rounded the top 10 as she clocked 18:46.7 to lead Glendale, which finished third with 122 points, followed by Saddleback (133) and Moorpark.