The women's cross country team competed at the Big 8 Conference Championships today at Hidden Valley Park in Martinez, CA. Coming into the meet ranked 3rd in the north and 12th in the state, the SRJC women looked to make their mark in the championship race.
After a controlled start, Ana Palafox moved through the small lead pack to position herself in 4th place at mile 2. She would go on to finish in this position with a respectable 20:26 over a difficult 5k course. Following shortly after was the pair of Evelin Ramirez and Jackie Ramirez in 9th and 12th place. These two spots proved to be the deciding factor in the tie-breaker that ensued when both Santa Rosa and Sierra College finished the race with a total of 52 points. The NCAA rule states that a tie is broken by scoring the top five finishers one-to-one. In this instance the scoring played out as follows:
School |
#1 |
#2 |
#3 |
#4 |
#5 |
Points |
SRJC |
4th |
9th |
12th |
20th |
21st |
3 |
Sierra |
7th |
10th |
13th |
15th |
19th |
2 |
This narrow victory is much more impressive considering that this is the first Conference Championship for SRJC women since the Big 8 Conference was formed in 2007 and the first conference title for SRJC women's cross country in 39 years! The women have more to give this season and will be hungry to make some big moves next weekend in Redding when they compete at the Northern California Championships.
Overall results: https://www.directathletics.com/results/xc/14022.html
Women Team Results
- 1st - Santa Rosa - 52 (NCAA tie breaker 3-2)
- 2nd - Sierra - 52
- 3rd - Sacramento - 60
- 4th - American River - 77
- 5th - Modesto - 97
- 6th - Delta - 169
SRJC Top Finishers (5k)
- 4th - Ana Palafox - 20:26
- 9th - Evelin Ramirez - 21:20
- 12th - Jackie Ramirez - 21:40
- 20th - Marisa McGettigan - 23:29
- 21st - Miranda Huntsinger - 23:37
- 30th - Dana Johnson - 24:32