Giants' men win Sequoias Invitational behind 1-2 finish by Aguayo, Santacruz

By Nick Giannandrea

COS ATHLETICS

Lionel Aguayo and Juan Santacruz topped the field individually to lead College of the sequoias' men's cross country team to a victory at the Sequoias Invitational on Oct. 8.

Aguayo (Lindsay High) placed first in the 24-runner, 5-kilometer event held on Sequoias' campus in 15 minutes and 41.0 seconds. 

Santacruz (El Diamante) was second in 15:52.2.

Fernando Hernandez (Mt. Whitney) placed sixth in 16:14.2, Evan Loftin (El Diamante) placed seventh in 16:20.3, Patrick Espinoza (Robert F. Kennedy-Delano) was 10th in 16:31.7 and Aldredo Rios (RFK) was 12th in 16:34.4 to round out the Giants' six scoring runners.

Sequoias finished with 26 points, followed by Cuesta (49) and Clovis (51).

The Giants women were led by Ximena Ramos (Reedley), who finished third out of 22 runners in 19:24.3.

Liliana Salado 9Mt. Whitney) was fifth in 19:29.0, Sherlyn Hernandez (Corcoran) was ninth in 20:17.0 and Kaitlyn Hernandez (McFarland) was 14th in 21:17.6.

Cuesta's Julia Voss won the women's race in 19:08.0.

Clovis was the women's team champion with 25 points.

Sequoias is scheduled to race in the Bronco Invitational on Oct. 16 in Sunnyvale.

The Central Valley Championships are set for Oct. 27 at Fresno's Woodward Park, the Northern California Regionals are Nov. 5 in Rocklin and the State Championships will be Nov. 20 at Woodward Park in Fresno.