The Glendale women’s Cross Country team captured it’s second straight Southern California Championship title Saturday. The men’s team finished 10th. With the effort in the SoCal meet, both teams were able to qualify for the State Championship meet this Saturday.

“Our first two runners ran well and our fourth and fifth runners ran better than theirs” said head coach Eddie Lopez.

The No. 1 ranked in the state Lady Vaq’s remained undefeated this season without the help of All-American runner Tove Burg.
Instead they were paced by sophomore Vivien Wadeck and her second place finish with a time of 17:59.2. Justina Saduskaite finished fifth with a time of 18:37.8, Desiree Ruiz finished 13th with a time of 19:21.2, Brenda Santana finished 21st with a time of 19:40.9, and Zitlalic Ley finished 26th with a time of 19:50 and finally Amanda Barreto finished 27th with a time of 19:51.2.

The women’s team was able to beat out Orange Coast College and Southwest San Diego College to wrap up the victory. This is a familiar place for the Lady Vaq’s to be in. Last year after beating Orange Coast in SoCal, they finished second at the state meet to the same team. “I knew it was going to be between orange coast and us again,” Said Lopez. “Last year there were too many distractions. Its more business like this year and that makes a big difference.”

On the men’s side the top finisher was Joshua Edmonson who finished 18th with a time of 21:44.5. Other runners were Luis Castaneda who finished 29th with a time of 22:02.9, Ruben Hernandez who finished 84th with a time of 23:08.3, Michael Flowers finished 89th with a time of 23:18.3, and Masahi Wada finished 98th with a time of 23:26.4.

The SoCal men’s champion was San Bernardino Valley College who edged out San Diego Mesa College. “We didn’t run our best race at Southern Cal, we’re still peaking in the workouts but you got to go out and run the race that’s the biggest thing so. In the workouts, I can tell that they are very sharp we’re peaking at the right time,” said Lopez.

Both the men’s and women’s go on to the State Championships in Fresno this weekend. The women hope to avenge last year’s loss to Orange Coast and bring home a State Championship “This is the best team I have ever coached” Lopez said. “It’s been the best team talent-wise and intensity-wise and the best team taking care of business.

“We are ready, the workouts indicate that we are ready and we are running fast. Hopefully they will follow the game-plan.”