OCC Women, Santa Ana Men Win

Orange Coast’s Zoila Gomez and Santa Ana’s Alfonso Leon won individual titles and helped their teams to championships at the Orange Empire Conference cross-country meet Saturday at Irvine Park.

It was the second consecutive conference title for Gomez, who completed the 3.2-mile course in 19 minutes 9 seconds. Her time was 14 seconds faster than she ran in winning on the same course in mid-September.

She was 22 seconds faster than teammate Bernice Carbajal, who finished second. OCC’s Heather Shurtleff (20:15) was third as the Pirates, who have won the last two state titles, had four runners in the top seven.

OCC finished with 25 points. Santa Ana (50) was second and Santiago Canyon, which is in its first year of competition, was third with 86 points.

Leon, a freshman from Santa Ana High, dominated the men’s four-mile race, winning in 20:21. He was 17 seconds slower on the same course earlier this season.

Jose Herrera of Santa Ana was second in 20:39 and OCC’s Juan Sanchez (21:01) was third. Santa Ana finished with 34 points and second-place OCC had 44.

The OCC women and the Santa Ana men will be among the favorites at Friday’s Southern California championships at Bakersfield.