Saratoga News

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Vikings run to top 10 finishes at NorCal to claim state spots

By Kevin Sparrer

The Northern California championship meet can make or break good cross country teams, and for the West Valley College Vikings it did a little bit of both.

West Valley ran with some of the best athletes in Northern California on Nov. 4 and managed to best enough of the pack for both the men's and the women's teams to qualify for the state championships.

At NorCal, the top 10 teams qualify for state, and both the West Valley squads finished in that 10 spot.

The women opted not to continue to state as a team, but instead will send on just a handful of runners. Cristina Diaz, Melissa Prestano and Emma Asiyo are the three who will continue for West Valley.

As for the men, it was decided that the entire team would continue down to state in hopes of a little redemption for the poor showing at the NorCal finals.

The women in the NorCal race began the 2.95 miles at 10 a.m. and ran on a perfect field among many other eager runners.

Diaz, the top West Valley finisher, completed the race in 20:30, which earned her 25th place overall. Prestano followed Diaz a few minutes back, finishing 47th in 22:01. Prestano doubles as a member of the women's soccer team at West Valley.

Asiyo was 65th in 24:58 with Kathrin Brenner 67th in 25:17 and Brianna Hagen 68th in 25:45.

As for the male Vikings, it was a tough race despite a strong start. Freshman Josh Hernandez was on pace to earning all-NorCal honors with a top 15 finish, and right behind him were teammates Ian Lujan, Jesus Atanacio and Andrew Taylor. Justin Miyakusu was a few steps back, but was forced to slow due to an untied shoelace.

But Hernandez found some hard luck in the NorCal race when he was mixed in an aggressive pack where a few runners got tripped up. Hernandez fell off the road and into the bushes. With a banged up knee, he struggled to regain his rhythm and Lujan and Atanacio both caught and passed him before the 2-mile mark. Eventually Taylor and Miyakusu caught up to Hernandez and tried to encourage him to finish the race strong.

With Hernandez slowed down so much due to his fall, it was tough for West Valley to make the cut for state, but due to the strong running of the other members of the team, the Vikings were able to place in the No. 10 spot and qualify for state

Lujan finished 32nd in 23:11 with Atanacio 56th in 24:06, Taylor 61st in 24:26, Hernandez 73rd in 25:09 and finally Miyakusu 76th in 25:11.

The West Valley teams had qualified for NorCals by placing third in the conference.

Diaz ran fifth in 21:23 on the 2.95-mile Crystal Springs course in Belmont to lead the West Valley women to a team third.

Hernandez raced to a fourth in 22:52 to pace the Vikings to a team third in the men's race on the 4.2-mile Crystal Springs course.