A group of ARC cross country runners waiting outside of their travel bus for their race at the racecourse, Lou Vasquez, in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco on Sept. 22. (Photo by Cheyenne Drury)

The American River College men’s and women’s cross country teams raced on Friday at the Lou Vasquez cross country course in Golden Gate park in San Francisco. The men’s team took first place and the women’s team finished seventh.

First for the men’s team, Freshman Edgar Bonilla placed second overall with a time of 20 minutes, 36.2 seconds and first on the women’s team, Freshman Aryana Archuleta finished sixteenth with a season personal record (PR) 20 minutes, 40.7 seconds.

The Lou Vasquez course is one of the flattest and fastest courses for NorCal teams with weather that averages around 71 degrees.

“Overall I felt the race went really well, it was a fast course and I felt great. I am very happy with my results,” Archuleta said after the race.

Not only is this course flat and fast but it is shorter in distance than other courses on the schedule.. A traditional 5k is 3.1 miles.

Women’s cross country coach Jeanette Powless said “the course varies each year but it’s generally around 2.1 to three miles long.”

The men had four of their runners finish in the top ten.

Sophomore Ozzie Hansen finished second for his team with a time of 20 minutes, 44.4 seconds, while fellow Sophomore Conor Wells finished finished fifth with a 21 minutes, 6.04 seconds.

Freshman Daniel Ambriez finished seventh for his team with a time of  21 minutes 9.01 seconds and Sophomore Ross Walker finished ninth with a time of 21 minutes, 9.6 seconds.

That means between the two top finishers for the men there was less than an eight second gap.

Between fifth, seventh and ninth place there was also less than a three second gap.

The day before the race coach for the men, Rick Anderson said,”We were about a minute apart at Fresno which is way too much for us. It should be, you know, thirty seconds from our first to our fifth guy, otherwise there are way too many bodies in between and the score just starts to decline.”

At this meet the men picked it up and between their first and fifth finishers. There was less than a thirty second gap.

“The gap between our first and fifth guy was only about 27 seconds,” Anderson said. “As long as the gap between the majority of your guys is low you should be ok and in our case the gap between our second and fifth man was only about 10 seconds.”

Lou Vasquez has proven to be a stride in the right direction for both the men and women and both coaches seem confident and happy with their teams performances.

“I thought the guys ran very well, said Anderson, “The guys ran a strong second half at which time they made a big move and reeled in the leaders.”

“Aryana Archuleta led her beavers team to the win and she (gave) us a spectacular performance, very nice,” Powless said.