Men’s Cross Country: Vikings open season with fourth-place finish at Tour de Cuesta

The Long Beach City College men's cross country team totaled 68 points to finish in fourth place at the season-opening Tour de Cuesta in San Luis Obispo on Friday. Sophomore Gerardo Salazar (Lakewood HS) led the Vikings with his seventh-place finish as he cleared the four-mile Fairbanks Cross Country Course with a time of 23:24.0.

Joining Salazar in the top 10 was freshman Jordan Horton (Mayfair HS), taking ninth with a time of 23.29.4. Other times for the Vikings included:

Elias Galvan (San Pedro HS), 12th, 23:51.3
Tylor Wallace (Mayfair HS), 18th, 24:18.9
Pedro Gutierrez (Valley View HS), 24th, 24:47.6
Christian Cortez (Cerritos HS), 27th, 25:20.9
Harold Vasquez (Mayfair HS), 28th, 25:29.1
Gary Palacios (Cabrillo HS), 30th, 25:50.8

"The guys had the first four spots coming through the first mile," said LBCC head coach Julio Jimenez.  "But the hills and inexperience of a few new individuals took a toll as our guys began to fade back as the race progressed. Regardless, the guys had a good season opener, coming behind teams that placed in front of us at last year's state championships."

Host Cuesta College's Sean McDermott was the top individual, racing to first place at 22:10.2. Cuesta took the team title with 37 points, followed by Citrus College (55 points), and Santa Barbara City College (66 points).

Long Beach returns to action next Friday (Sept. 11) when the Vikings travel to the Fresno Invitational at Woodward Park.