SANTA ANA COLLEGE UPDATE: Men’s cross country team ends up with solid showing at state

SAC’s men’s cross country team qualified for the state meet. (Photo courtesy SAC Sports Information).

The Santa Ana College men’s cross country team capped the 2022 season with a trip to the California Community College Athletic Association State Championships Saturday, Nov. 19 at Woodward Park in Fresno and finished 17th overall with 478 points against the best teams in the state.

It was the first time since 2018 that the SAC squad qualified for state as a team

Aldo Trujillo ran his last race in a Santa Ana uniform and placed 37th overall with a time of 21:12.7. Jesus Espinoza, the second to come in for the Dons, finished 113th at a time of 22:31.3. 

Clocking in at 22:54.1 was Matthew Seminiano, placing 130th while Bryce Tanikawa was close behind with a 135th place finish at a time of 22:58.1. 

Jean Rico  took 158th place with a 23:43.5 race time and Eder Diaza followed at 24:07.8 in 164th place. Rounding out the group was Zahid Sadat, who earned 170th with a time of 24:32.5. 

Men’s soccer team eliminated

The Santa Ana College men’s soccer team lost an early lead and fell 3-2 to Mt. San Antonio College (15-6-1) in overtime of the second round of the California Community College SoCal Regional Playoffs. 

In the first half, the Dons (11-7-5) looked poised to move on to the third round of playoffs as Joaquin Ramos put them on the board first with a goal off a rebound in the box at the 21 minute mark.

Santa Ana added to their lead a few minutes into the second half as Josue Martinez  made a good run and chipped a ball past the Mountie goalkeeper to make it 2-0.

But Mt. SAC was able to battle back

The Mounties were awarded a penalty kick in the 71st minute and put the shot away to cut the lead to one. Eleven minutes later, they put pressure on the Santa Ana defense with a few crosses in the same possession which led to the game tying goal. 

Mt. SAC scored once more in overtime to take a 3-2 lead before time officially expired, eliminating the Dons from the playoffs.

Women’s volleyball loses

The SAC women’s volleyball team was eliminated from the SoCal Regional playoffs, losing to Canyons in three sets Tuesday night. The program finished with a school record 18 wins and had several individual records broken.

—Courtesy Santa Ana College Sports Information