Gauchos hoist Brubaker Trophy
The Saddleback women's cross country team won its second straight meet on Friday with a victory at the Brubaker Invitational at Irvine Regional Park. The Gauchos had five harriers finish in the top-20 in winning against a tough field.
Saddleback faced off against Mt. San Antonio College for the first time this season with the Mounties coming in ranked No. 2 in the state by the 5CTCA and the Gauchos ranked No. 3. Saddleback took it personally, beating the Mounties with another solid outing on the 5k trek in Irvine.
Saddleback finished 3-4-5-12-17 in totaling 41 points to finish five points in front of Mt. San Antonio. The Gauchos were led by freshman Holly Morales, who finished third overall in finishing the race in 19:42.95. Right on her heels was two other Gauchos as freshman Dana McGrath finished fourth (19:45.23) and sophomore Megan Good was fifth (19:47.03).
As good as the top women were for Saddleback, depth is a key factor in winning a race against top competition. The Gauchos edged the Mounties as a result of two other top-20 finishers when freshman Alexis Park crossed in 12th place (20:05.50) and freshman Cayla Porter was 17th (20:32.83).
Three other programs listed in the top-15 in the 5CTCA Rankings were in the race as San Bernardino Valley College (8), Chaffey College (11) and Orange Coast College (12) were all included in the field. San Bernardino Valley finished third overall on Friday while Orange Coast was fourth and Chaffey was sixth.
Saddleback will have some time off before competing at the Orange Empire Conference Finals on October 26. The OEC Finals are scheduled to start at 9:00 AM in Riverside.