COC’s Late Bloomer Finishes First in WSC

MOORPARK —  More than 17 years after graduating from high school, Brian Spangenberg of College of the Canyons won his first junior college cross-country race in the second Western State Conference meet of the season at Moorpark College on Friday.

Spangenberg, a 35-year-old freshman who took up running four years ago because friends were training for the L.A. Marathon, finished seventh, second, third and third in Canyons’ first four races this season. But he broke away from Jorge Lopez of Glendale with a mile left on Friday to win the men’s race by 15 seconds over second-place Eduardo Diaz of Glendale.

Diaz won the first WSC meet at COC last month with Spangenberg 20 seconds behind in second. Diaz never seriously challenged for first on Friday as Spangenberg forced the pace from the start.

“I wanted to go out fast and see if I could hang on,” Spangenberg said. “A lot of the guys in the race could probably outkick me at this point in the season. . . . I wanted to put a little bit of risk into the race and see if I could pull it off.”

Spangenberg led the field through the first mile in 4:56 and through two miles in 10:15, but Lopez passed him ascending a steep hill about 250 yards later.

They ran together through the three-mile mark, but Spangenberg stepped it up and left Lopez reeling.

“He surged fast,” Lopez said. “I thought I could stay with him, but I couldn’t.”

Spangenberg timed 19:44 over what was supposed to be a four-mile course, but it was at least 220 yards short because the pace cyclist leading the runners around the course took a wrong turn at the top of the hill that Lopez passed Spangenberg on.

Diaz finished second in 19:59 and Lopez was third in 20:00 as defending state champion Glendale totaled 34 points to win the 13-team meet for the second time this season. Bakersfield was second with 60 points, followed by Ventura with 136, Moorpark with 147 and Oxnard with 149.

A wrong turn played a huge role in the outcome of the women’s race.

Kim Lorimer of Glendale and Jeanene Gerry of Moorpark, who finished first and second in the first WSC meet, were in the lead with about 600 yards left when Lorimer inexplicably turned right when she should have gone left.

She realized her mistake after going about 20 yards off the course, but by then Gerry had an insurmountable lead.

“I felt bad for her,” Gerry said. “But it came at a point where I needed to make a break.”

Gerry placed first with a 20:17 clocking over the three-mile course and a disappointed Lorimer was second in 20:25.

“Taking that turn totally (ruined) me,” Lorimer said. “I can’t say who would have won if that hadn’t happened, but it would have been nice to see.”

Moorpark, led by Gerry’s winning effort and Melissa McBain’s sixth-place time of 21:43, totaled 72 points to win the women’s meet, followed by two-time defending conference champion Glendale with 78, Bakersfield with 84 and Cuesta with 86.

Santa Monica finished fifth with 101 points, but had some scary moments after Veronica Rodriguez passed out with about 220 yards left in the race because of heat exhaustion.

Rodriguez was taken by paramedics to Simi Valley Adventist Hospital, and was released Friday evening.