Tigers Settle for Second at Palomar Invitational Friday

OCEANSIDE -- Settling for second place after the sixth racers broke a first-place tie at last Friday's (Sept. 9) Palomar Invitational at Guajome Park, the Riverside City College (RCC) Tigers women's cross country team will set its sights on the SoCal Preview this Friday, Sept. 16.

Originally, Riverside City and Saddleback College tied for first place before the Gauchos' sixth finisher broke the tie at 45-45.

Sophomore Gabrielle De La Rosa of Santiago Canyon College won the 5.0-kilometer race with a time of 19:15.

RCC sophomore Natalie Vaughn (Corona / Santiago HS '15) -- who is pictured -- led the Tigers with a second-place finish (19:26.7), followed by frosh Robin Valencia (Ontario Christian HS), who was sixth overall (19:40.5), and frosh Esther Shader (San Jacinto / San Jacinto HS '16), who was seventh overall (19:43.3).

RCC frosh Carissa Gomez (Citrus Valley HS) was 11th overall (19:57.2), followed by sophomore Nicole Cordero (Bloomington / Bloomington HS '12), who was 19th overall (21:00.8), and frosh Katelyn Hansen (Riverside / John W. North HS), who was 25th overall (21:39.9).

Elsewhere in the team standings, Los Angeles Harbor College was third (64 points), followed by Long Beach City College (136), and Santiago Canyon (163). Pasadena City College was sixth (164), Fullerton College was seventh (193) and Southwestern College was eighth (209).

Friday's SoCal Preview meet will be at Irvine Regional Park in Orange at 10 a.m.

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