SBCC placed three runners in the top 19 on Friday and finished fifth in the Tour de Cuesta men's cross country race in San Luis Obispo.
Alex Ramirez led the Vaqueros on the 4-mile Fairbanks Cross Country course, clocking 22:32 to take 10th with temperatures in the low 80s. Jose Tarula was 17th in 23:02 and Patrick Lownes-Santos placed 19th, just three seconds behind Tarula.
Sean McDermott of Cuesta was first in the field of 71 runners in 21:33. Mt. SAC, the state's top-ranked team, won the seven-team competition with 35 points. Cuesta was second with 73 and the Vaqueros were fifth with 104.
Marcus Dunkel was 38th in 24:03 and Charles Perry was the fifth runner for Santa Barbara, taking 43rd in 24:22.
"This was our tightest grouping for runners one to five at 1 minute, 50 seconds," noted coach Scott Fickerson. "It was a 50-second improvement over our previous two races, so a good step in the right direction. If we can get it down to 90 seconds, that will bode very well for us at the Southern California Championships."
SBCC will compete in the WSC Championships on Friday, Oct. 21 at Oxnard College with the men's race starting at 2 p.m.
Tour de Cuesta
At Fairbanks Course, San Luis Obispo
Team – 1, Mt. SAC 35, 2, Cuesta 73. 3, Sequoias 75. 4, Saddleback 84. 5, SBCC 104. 6, Santiago Canyon 173. 7, Long Beach 185.
Individual (4 miles, 71 runners) – 1, Sean McDermott, Cuesta, 21:33. 2, Ronen Skarsten, Saddleback, 22:00. 3, Adam Gonzalez, Sequoias, 22:02.
SBCC runners – 10, Alex Ramirez 22:32. 17, Jose Tarula 23:02. 19, Patrick Lownes-Santos 23:05. 38, Marcus Dunkel 24:03. 43, Charles Perry 24:22. 52, Jacob Ogawa 25:11. 59, Jordan Shinn 26:06. 64, Aaron Mackey 27:28. 68, Victor Santos 27:48. 70, Max Cardenas 30:45.