Canyons Cross Country Sending Both Teams to State Championship Meet

By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director 

RANCHO CUCAMONGA — College of the Canyons is sending both its teams to the state championship meet for a second straight season after the Cougars posted a pair of successful runs at the 3C2A Southern California Regional Championships at Chaffey College on Friday.

COC's women's squad, who claimed the Western State Conference (WSC) championship last month, finished sixth in the field of 21 schools from across the region. San Diego Mesa College (54) won the regional title ahead of a distant runner-up in Mt. San Antonio College (114) with Moorpark College (180) in third. Riverside City College (193) and Orange Coast College (207) were next ahead of Canyons (213).

Victoria Jamison (19:08.2) was outstanding for the Cougars in her first regional championship event. The freshman finished in fifth place, roughly 10 seconds behind the individual event winner Danna Ibarra Canales (18:58) of Saddleback College. Jamison continues to be included among the top runners in the state.

Canyons freshmen Alyssa Arriaga (21:22.4) and Lilianna Moreira (21:25.1) continued their strong rookie seasons by finishing the 5K course in near tandem to place 43rd and 44th, respectively.

Fellow frosh Giselle Ruiz (21:51.2) in 63rd and Kassidy Vargas (22:35.2) in the 80 spot were the final scoring runners for the Cougars.

The 2024 season represents the fifth straight in which the women's program will compete at the 3C2A state championship meet.

Canyon Men's Team Makes it to State in Second Straight Season
The Cougars' men's team finished 14th among the 26 participating programs to clinch a return trip to the 3C2A state championship meet.

Sophomores Jack Eaton in 48th (22:06.7) and Nathaniel Wilkinson in 49th (22:08.8) were the top finishers on a day in which the Cougars also ran fifth among WSC schools. 

Musa Rahman (84th/22:54.3) and Nathan Parras (95th/23:11.4) both clocked times to finish with the top-100 in what was a field of more than 180 runners representing 26 competing programs. Montell Frye (152nd/25:52.7) was the final scoring runner for Canyons.

San Diego Mesa College (35) won the men's regional championship with Mt. SAC (93) and San Bernardino Valley College (121) representing the next two positions. 

The Cougars will run a final race Saturday, Nov. 23 at the 3C2A State Championships at Woodward Park in Fresno.

Stay up to date on all this season's action by following the College of the Canyons Athletic department on social media at @COCathletics on X, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.