John Gutierrez Claims WSC Championship Crown for Men's Cross Country

OXNARD, Calif. - The Allan Hancock College men's cross country team saw another milestone performance at the Western State Conference (WSC) Championship event in Oxnard on Friday. | FULL RESULTS

The program saw two individuals earn top-10 performances through the field of 110 athletes and placed seventh overall out of 12 scoring teams. Bakersfield won the team race with Moorpark and Glendale rounding out the top three slots. The first 14 finishers at the finals received First Team All-Conference honors, while those finishing 15-28 were Second Team All-Conference designees. Athletes finishing 29-42 picked up All-Conference Honorable Mention recognition.

John Gutierrez led the way for the men's team as the top runner in the event after notching a final time of 20:02.1, besting the second place funner by 20 seconds. He becomes just the sixth individual on record for the program to earn a conference championship title in men's cross country and first to claim the crown since Quinton Morely in 1989. 

Erick Marceleno (20:52.8) also secured All-Conference honors en route to an eighth place finish. Hernan Aguirre (55th), Craig Ragan (58th), and Pablo Ruiz (79th) rounded out the list of competing athletes for the Bulldogs. 

The men's program has advanced as a team to the SoCal Regional Championship event for just the second time in 20 years, which is set to take place on November 8th at Grigsby Field in Rancho Cucamonga.