The Bakersfield College men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in their only home invitational on Oct. 1.
The women’s cross country team finished third as a team in the 5k run, with a total score of 52 behind Ventura College and College of the Canyons.
Dennise Mercado, 18, was the first BC runner for the women to come in, and she finished fourth overall with a time of 21:26.
“I think the girls overall worked really hard at practices,” said Mercado. “And I know they give it their all at the meet, so I’m satisfied with the outcome.”
Mercado said that her goal for the day was to run a 20:30, and she was disappointed with her final time.
“I felt like the weather didn’t help at all, but all the runners are feeling the same way, so I had to just deal with it,” she said. “It was good overall considering all the things that were going on and stuff. The course wasn’t tough at all, but just the weather, and there were bugs.”
Blanca Perez, 18, finished sixth overall with a time of 21:56, and was the second woman for BC to cross the finish line.
“I think it was my best race so far this season. I was definitely focused,” said Perez. “[The coaches] are really good at getting us ready for our races.
“I felt like I did negative splits, you know, as I ran the course,” she said. “I just kept getting better and toughing it out more.”
Perez is hoping the women can improve as a team overall going forward.
“I hope our girls can have better races for the rest of the year like we did today, where, you know, we ran together and did better as a team,” said Perez.
Margaret Martinez had higher expectations than her 19th overall finish, but she said that her asthma contributed to her 23:38 time.
“I’ve been having trouble breathing lately,” said Martinez. “It’s not that it’s a hard course. I mean it’s an easy course, it’s pretty fast, it’s just [that] I can’t speak for others, but for me it wasn’t the best.”
Pam Kelley, the coach for the BC women’s cross-country team, thought her team performed very well.
“I think we are working toward getting a little bit better,” said Kelley. “We need to move our four, five, and six up a little bit, but I thought in all we did very well today.
She said that she was proud. “You know the conditions aren’t great,” she said. “It’s hard to compete at home because [the coaches] aren’t with them as much because we’re running the meet, so it’s hard.
“I thought it was a good [performance]. We had a chance to compete, we didn’t have to leave at five in the morning, and it’s our only home meet of the year so I’m happy about it.”
Kelley is looking forward to the team’s next invitational, which will take place on Oct. 15 at Mt. San Antonio College.
“You got to keep going. You just have to keep running and see where we go from there,” she said.
The men’s cross country team finished third, with a total score of 82.
Jorge Perez was the first of the men’s team to cross the finish line with a time of 23:21, and he finished sixth overall.
Perez said that he didn’t meet his expectations for the race but that he was well prepared by his coaches in the weeks leading up to the invitational.
Santiago Lazarit, 19, finished 13th overall with a time of 24:26, and was the second BC runner to finish.
“I thought I met my expectations,” said Lazarit. “I’ve been drinking a ton of water the past few days, but today the weather was too hot and humid, but I liked how resilient we were.
“It was tough, the course should be really easy, but it’s a tough course when you factor in the weather.”
Lazarit doesn’t think the team met its full potential at the invitational.
“I think the team did really good, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet. We need to work on our regiments a little more, and just go out there and run,” he said. “The season is almost over, but I’ve got my hopes up.”
Dave Frickel, the men’s cross country coach, thinks that his team did the best they could, but there is more they can do to get better.
“Yeah I think they did their best,” said Frickel. “I think we need to be a little more aggressive in races, and probably be a little more focused in reference to not letting people go ahead, and stay with them.”
Frickel said that he is now starting to see a better image of his top five runners, and he likes where they are in that perspective.
“We’re starting to see a pecking order developing a little bit,” he said. “Some of the places are interchangeable though, and I think it’s good that they don’t have a pecking order in that respect, that way they’re all hungry, and they’ll run a little harder.”
Frickel said that he thinks the men’s team met expectations, and that he thinks the women’s team had their best day of the season as a team.