Kunes takes ninth in Southern Cal to qualify for State Meet

Kaleb Kunes placed ninth in a field of 196 finishers on Friday at the Southern Cal men's community college cross country race.

Kunes covered the 4-mile course at Central Park in Santa Clarita in 21:23, running 37 seconds faster than he did on the same course in the Southern Cal Preview on Sept. 15. Kunes was the first individual qualifier for the State meet.

SBCC finished 23rd in a 28-team men's field. The top 14 teams advanced to the State Meet on Saturday, Nov. 18 at Fresno's Woodward Park. Mt. SAC won the team title with 34 points.

Charlie Perry was 84th in 22:56 and Jordan Shinn finished 117th in 23:36. Manuel Fernandez of Mt. San Antonio won in 20:26, beating his teammate Anthony Alfaro by 11 seconds.

Michael Cohen was 162nd (25:02) for SBCC, Max Cardenas was 184th (27:03), Orion Kuang took 188th (27:37) and Giel Ketelslegers was 190th (28:08).

"All four SBCC runners who raced on Sept. 15 improved their times by an average of 35 seconds," said Vaquero coach Scott Fickerson. "I'm proud of the men and how they raced today. They showed courage and toughness in the way they ran their races. It wasn't in the cards for them to move on to Fresno, but they ended their season in a way they can be proud.

"Kaleb had his best race of the season so far to punch his ticket to the State Meet. He ran strongly and had a great finish, passing six runners over the final 800 meters."