FLORES, WATSON QUALIFY FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS

OXNARD - Despite an overall disappointing performance by the Marauder men's cross country team at the Western State Conference Championships, Fernando Flores and Cody Watson finished high enough to qualify for the Southern California Championships, Friday afternoon at Oxnard College.

Flores was AVC's top runner after he crossed the tape in 22:32.55 to finish 38th. Flores will run on Nov. 4 at the Southern California Championships in Irvine, with a chance to make the state meet.

"Fernando and Cody will really have to run well to make it to the state meet," Marauders head coach Mark Covert said. "They really have to run a great race."

Watson also qualified for the meet in Irvine after he finished in 22:55.46 to finish 49th. The chances of Flores and Watson are not out of the realm of possibility since AVC runs in one of the toughest conferences in the state.

Jesus Patino finished 70th in (23:46.08) and Samuel Dinh (23:47.58) was right behind and finished 72nd. Still the Marauders had a poor outing as they finished 11th out of the 12 teams. Only Citrus College finished worse.

"They've been like they've been all season," Covert said of his team. "They didn't run well at all."

Glendale College won the meet as the Vaqueros had five of the top nine place finishers, led by Shane Thompson (20:49.81) who finished second. Cuesta College's Sean McDermott was the top finisher in the race after finishing in 20:31.11. Only three runners, McDermott, Thompson and West LA College's Alex Gomez (20:59.65), broke the 21-minute mark.

The state meet will be run on Nov. 19 at Woodward Park in Fresno.