Posted: Nov 20, 2022
Men - 4 miles
November 19, 2022 dawned cool and crisp at beautiful Woodward Park in Fresno. Temperatures at race time hovered in the low to mid 50's on the clear and sunny day making for perfect racing conditions. 21 teams in addition to a select number of individuals converged on the park for the CCCAA State Championships for cross country. The 176 runner field represented community college athletes that had qualified 2 weeks previously from their respective regional championship. For SBCC's freshmen duo of Alex Rosillo and Sam Buenaventura, they qualified out of the south region by placing in the top 1/2 of the field in Bakersfield and were looking for strong performances today that would culminate their inaugural college cross country seasons.
Both men got out well at the start with Alex pushing up near the front of the field, while Sam hung back a bit further, but solidly placed in the top 1/3 of the field. At the mile Alex rolled through in 5:00 looking strong and Sam continued to hold back running 5:10. By two miles, the two Vaqueros were even at 10:47. From here Sam pulled away running a strong 2nd half of his race to finish at 98th place in a time of 22:17. Alex battled a side ache over the final 2 miles and came in at 144 and 23:10.
"I'm really proud of Sam's ability to overcome the knee injury that has been plaguing him for the past month and run a really strong race here today." said Coach Fickerson "It may not be the race we envisioned mid way through the season, but he remained focused and tough and got all he could from his body." Fickerson added "I've no doubt that with a strong track season and summer of base training, Sam could finish in the top 25% here next season. He has a bright future."
Said Fickerson about Rosillo's race, "Alex had a rough second half of his race dealing with a side ache, but he put himself in a position to have that epic race at State we all dream of. Today, it didn't quite work out, but he saw what is possible and I'm sure he will put it together next year for a great race. Hopefully with a full contingent of teammates running along side him!"
Jesse Alvarado of Mt SAC won the race in 19:51 and led his teammates to a tight team battle over San Diego Mesa College 59 to 62. Riverside College placed 3rd with 126 points.
