By Javier Cabrera / Editor in Chief

Trying to keep ahead (Jarred Jackson / Staff Photographer)
By Javier Cabrera / Editor in Chief
The goal was to repeat as the Orange Empire Conference champion but the Riverside City College men’s cross country team came short behind Orange Coast for the title Oct. 28 at Moreno Valley College.
The conference title came down to the two colleges and Riverside had the edge favor heading into the meet but Orange Coast blew passed RCC with the five runners it had in the top 10.
Orange Coast had five of its runners finish third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh giving them an overall team finish of 21 minutes and 46 seconds.
RCC had three of its runners finish in the top 10 including John Guzman, who finished second overall in the conference meet.
Riverside’s team total was 21 minutes and 50 seconds, coming up seconds short of repeating as the conference’s champion.
“I thought that we did OK,” said Jim McCarron, coach of RCC’s men’s cross country. “We had some guys struggle with injuries a bit but I think overall we did good.”
Despite finishing second Guzman was not satisfied with how he did in the meet.
“I am not very happy with the time I finished with but we are just staying with our training and getting through the season,” he said. “(We are) just looking forward to the rest of the season.”
“Everybody did good,” Guzman said. “It didn’t come out as we would have wished.”
Although RCC did not win the conference title, the team will be competing in the Southern California championship meet Nov. 4 at Chaffey College.