The Moorpark College men's cross country team won the Western State Conference title Saturday with a team score of 38, edging Glendale (44 points) at Legg Lake in Los Angeles.

Freshman duo Bryce Gardhouse and Matthew Russell anchored the victory in the 4-mile event, finishing in 19 minutes, 48 seconds and 19 minutes, 49.9 seconds, respectively. The times were good for 3rd and 4th place.

2021 WSC CHAMPIONS!
Men's Cross Country placed first at the WSC Championships
The Women finished in 4th place
Both teams qualified for So Cal Regionals. @TheCoachHicks5 pic.twitter.com/4ihBBzZgZw

— MC Raiders (@MC_Raiders) October 23, 2021

Gardhouse and Russell were followed by teammates, Johnny Slone (20:10.1, 8), Sean McArthur (20:41.1, 11) and Marcus Fehlman (20:42.7, 12).

McArthur and Fehlman had a final turn kick that beat out two Glendale College runners, a critical part of the race, according to cross country coach Traycie Kephart.

Liam Pereira finishes sixth in his debut 4-mile college race, a top-20 finisher in a time of 20:53. Wyatt Tack, another freshman, rounded out the top 7 with a personal best of 21:32.  The trio of Bradley Williams (22:06), Steven Solitare (22:10) and Luis Silva (22:11) were the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th finishers for the Raiders. Max Kirkhope and Aaron Okayama shaved 50 and 25 seconds, respectively, off their personal bests to finish in times of 23:38 and 23:40.  

In two weeks, the Raiders will race the best teams in Southern California at the Southern California Regional Championships at Mile Square Regional Park on Friday, Nov. 5 at noon.

Women's team finishes 3rd in WSC championships

The women's cross country team placed 4^th and qualified for Southern California Regionals Saturday. The Raiders were led by freshman Marlo Lavacude-Klenck. Klenck placed 9^th overall with a time of 19:44.

Close behind was teammate Vanessa Avila, who finished in 20:00 to place 12^th. Emily Richmond (20:22) had a 20-second personal best and placed 15^th.  Daphne Delmar (21:04) and Samantha Crane (22:33) round out the top 5 for the Raiders.

Crane improved her best 5K time by one minute.

Klenck, Avila and Richmond qualified for SoCal Regionals on Nov. 5.

#GoRaiders