Roberts claims WSC title; Vaqueros take third

SBCC's Ian Roberts took the lead in the fourth mile on Thursday and went on to capture the individual men's title in the WSC Cross Country Championships at College Park in Oxnard.

Roberts covered the 4-mile course in 20:32, beating the runner-up, Rodrigo Ornelas of Canyons, by eight seconds. He's the first SBCC runner to win a WSC title since Curly Guillen in 2001.

Alex Heuchert was sixth for the Vaqueros in the 127-man field in 21:14, Martin Montes took ninth (21:27) and Zeph Alva was 29^th (22:13).

It was the second straight win for Roberts, a sophomore from Ventura High who also won  the SBCC Invitational on Oct. 11.

"It was a flat course but deceptively slow with lots of turns," said SBCC coach Scott Fickerson. "Ian ran with the pack and then broke away somewhere in the fourth mile."

The Vaqueros placed third with 86 points and easily qualified for the Southern Cal Championships on Nov. 8 in Saugus. Canyons won the men's meet with 43 points and Glendale was second at 49.

Nicole Bartlett topped the SBCC women with a personal-best of 19:46 for 10^th place in the 5K race, which featured 128 runners. Katie Huntington was 23^rd in 20:17 and Alexa Sanchez placed 35^th in 20:32.

WSC Championships
At College Park
Oxnard College
MEN
 Team (12 teams, 7 advance) -- 1, Canyons 43. 2, Glendale 49. 3, SBCC 86. 4, Cuesta 113.
 Individual (4 miles, 127 finishers) – 1, Ian Roberts, SBCC, 20:32. 2, Rodrigo Ornelas, Canyons, 20:40.
 SBCC runners -- 1, Roberts 20:32. 6, Alex Heuchert 21:14. 13, Martin Montes 21:27. 29, Zeph Alva 22:13. 38, Brian Santiago 22:27. 49, Andy Hernandez 22:48. 73, Octavio Magdaleno 23:43.