Santa Ana winds, fires, smoke, freeway closures, campus closures, record high temperatures; nothing stops the Western State Conference from hosting the cross country championships.

Although the meet wasn't canceled it, was delayed an hour to allow the teams to navigate the 101 freeway. The cross country races were held at Fairbanks Cross Country course across the street from Cuesta College. It is a true all- dirt cross country course with rolling hills, however, there isn't an inch of shade to be found. With race temps in the low 90's the mantra at the start of the race was to finish the race, make sure you cross the finish line.

Moorpark runners Drake Nienow and Sophia Cortina did more than finish the race, they claimed the WSC Cross Country Championship over the weekend.

Cortina won the race in 19 minutes and 25 seconds, 16 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Nienow finished in 22:25.

The team ended up placing 6th overall out of the 14 WSC teams and qualifying for the Southern California Championships. The ladies are looking forward to that race which will be contested at 10am on Friday, November 8th in much cooler San Diego. Adriana Perez finished 19th (22:53), a 42 second improvement over her previous time. Elizabeth Hsu was 35th (24:45), Estafania De Los Santos 38th (25:12), and Venus Venegas was 39th (25:19). Talia Kokonian placed 59th in a time of 29:08.

Nienow's time was 31 seconds faster than his time on this same course in September. Andrew Teasdale finished 4th (22:39) 46 seconds faster than his previous time. Zach Leith was 20th (23:53), Robby Riggs was 34th (24:48) and Connor Ahl was 46th (25:59).

Although the men's race was slightly cooler and only one runner dropped out of the race, it is very commendable how the men raced strong over the entire 4 mile course. The team of 5 runners placed 5th overall as a team and qualified for the Southern California Championships which will be held at Mission Bay Park in San Diego on Friday, November 8th.