Fresno City College men and women cross country teams raced to the finish, but fell short against foes Clovis Community College and College of the Sequoias at the Central Valley Championships held at Woodward Park on Fri. Oct. 26, 2018.

The championships started off first with the women looking to build momentum hoping it would follow through for the men who raced later on in the day. FCC women were looking to also improve from their previous race at the Warrior Invitational in Rocklin, California after a tough matchup saw their best placement out of the top 100 placed 85th.

The race started off well for FCC women, but the gap quickly spread between them and the Crush of Clovis and Giants of C.O.S. The Rams standout was sophomore Justine Lubbees who placed 6th in the race with a time of 22 minutes and 40 seconds. Just behind her by only a few steps was freshman Jorgina Lazcano who placed 7th with a time of 22 minutes and 44 seconds.

Next up were the men who looking to make a big impact in the championship. From the starting horn, the race was neck and neck for first half of the meet. Leading the way for the FCC men was freshman Jose Mosqueda who raced with everything he had to place 2nd only behind one runner from C.O.S. Mosqueda would place a time of 21 minutes and 47 seconds. Freshman Eliel Payan would finish next best for the Rams placing 6th with a time of 22 minutes and 10 seconds.

When asked about her performance in just her second meet, Jorgina Lazcano talked about how she feels she’s improving with each match and how she brings her mindset from her other sport of boxing to the cross-country field.

“It’s a mental thing. It’s a mental game. My coach is always telling me ‘It’s all in the mind’ so when I come and run I say it’s in my mind” Lazcano said. “We come out here and run to. It’s not the same trail but [my coach] is always on us and he’s making us do sprints so when I hit those hills I think of boxing.”

The FCC men and women look ahead to their next race on Fri. Nov. 2 when they head to Redding, California to race in the Nor-Cal Championships at Shasta College.