Off to a speedy start

Though they’ve only competed in two meets, both the Orange Coast

College men’s and women’s cross country teams have given first-year

OCC cross country coach John Knox a smooth transition.

The women’s team has taken first place at the Fresno Invitational

and at last weekend’s Orange Empire Preview Meet in Huntington Beach

while the men shared first-place laurels at the OEC meet with Santa

Ana and took sixth at Fresno.

“As a coaching staff we’ve been very happy with the women’s team,

and the men’s team has been a pleasant surprise,” Knox said.

“Michelle (Icban) and Ava (Jones) have been dominating as a 1-2

punch. I knew Ava was going to be good and she’s pushing Michelle

every race. They complement each other very well.”

Icban and Jones finished 1-2, respectively, at each of the first

two meets, but the strong running doesn’t stop there.

Susie Dinoso, who finished seventh at the OEC meet, Roseann Peters

and Natalie St. Andre make up the top five for Knox, who has also

been impressed with freshman Sandra Montoya, who took 11th at the OEC

meet.

“We have three girls battling for the No. 7 spot,” Knox said. “All

the girls have been working out very hard all week and are very

focused. As a team, I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

The men’s team took first at the OEC meet despite missing three of

the top runners, including Joel Guzman, who sat out the OEC meet for

disciplinary reasons.

Pedro Nambo should run this week after recovering from a knee

injury and Brandon Metcalf should return in a week or two, which

bodes well for Knox’s crew.

“The nice thing is the men are getting stronger and stronger,”

Knox said. “David Ojeda ran an excellent race last Friday and Andre

Brown ran his first race last week.”

Ojeda finished fifth overall and led OCC runners at the OEC meet

with a 21:04.49 as Brown took 17th with a 22:00.02.

Both teams compete in Saturday’s Orange Coast Classic at Fairview

Park in Costa Mesa, a meet that will feature 327 athletes from 16

schools from across Southern California. The women race at 10 a.m.

and the men race at 11 a.m.

“This week will be a good test for the men,” Knox said. “We have

five kids that run as a pack shoulder-to-shoulder. Once all the kids

are out there running we should jump in the standings.”

* OCC’s women’s soccer team faces Saddleback College today in

Mission Viejo, giving Pirates’ Coach Barbara Bond an opportunity to

face Brandee Craig, who played soccer at OCC and was an assistant

coach under Bond from 1992 through the 2000 season before taking the

coaching job at Saddleback in 2001 when the school added women’s

soccer to its intercollegiate lineup.

In it’s inaugural season Saddleback finished 8-8-2, good for

fourth place in the nine-team Orange Empire Conference and Craig was

selected as the conference Coach of the Year. She played at OCC

before going on to play at San Francisco State University.

“It’s always great to play them,” said Bond, who has coached all

22 years of women’s soccer at OCC. “Of course we want to beat them

but it’s a nice consolation if we don’t.”

Bond calls this year’s team the “best-skilled and fastest team”

she has had.

“I thought we were good last year and we lost in the final round

of regionals,” Bond said. “Our goal is to play well as a team. Alicia

(Santiago) in the backfield has been a real outstanding player. I

hope she goes real far after Coast and freshman Sarah Ronquillo

(Costa Mesa High) has a lot of the same skills Jaycee (Mahler) has

and is really fun to watch. Players aren’t any good without solid

players behind them. I’m really big on the team concept.”

Ronquillo scored a goal in the 30th minute in Coast’s 4-0 win over

conference foe Santa Ana Tuesday that makes the Pirates 7-1, 3-1.

OCC players kept the heat on the entire game Tuesday, heading

Santa Ana passes and quickly dropping the ball to their feet before

sprinting down the field like gazelles on the African prairie.

After losing their first game of the season to the state’s No.

2-ranked team in Cypress, 2-1 Sept. 20, Bond is already counting the

days to Oct. 22 when the teams meet again at OCC.

“I don’t have any doubts we can beat them,” Bond said. Cypress is

presently 73-0-5 in its last 78 games.