Cross country finishes season strong

By Aaron Turner
Staff Writer

Following their second consecutive Coast Conference and NorCal championships, the Rams men’s cross-country team headed to Fresno on Nov. 21.

After finishing 12th last season at the state championships, the team was able to finish fourth overall,  and cap off a very special season.

Sophomore Fernando Diaz took 19th place in the men’s four mile race to lead all City College runners and fellow upperclassman Benny Willers was able to take 30th place. The Rams had their best finish in school history at the state meet.

“To be honest, I was a little surprised at where I finished,” Diaz said. “I went into the race not really having any kind of high expectations for myself and wound up finishing near the top. That’s all I wanted to do, run my best race.”

“I’m really pleased,” Rams head coach Marc Dyer said. “Everyone was a year stronger and when we got into the state meet it wasn’t a new thing. Everyone had that experience and that definitely helped.”

Experience was exactly what the Rams had, as a total of six sophomores from last season’s championship team returned.  Sophomore Benny Willers, who finished as the fourth ranked runner in conference, was perhaps the Rams’ top performer this season.

“We had one goal going into this season and that was to win conference and NorCal again and then to go on and win state,” Willers said. “Although we weren’t able to take first, we were all really happy overall for how we did this year. This was a really fun season.”

Willers’ success comes after some personal obstacles. “About two races into the season I could feel something was up with my body,” Willers said. “Coach told me to go get a blood test and that’s when I found out I was anemic.”

With a change of diet and iron supplements, Willers was able to see much improvement in a week and a half.  He even managed to get his best ever personal running time at the San Francisco State Invitational on Oct. 8.

Sophomore runner Sloane Cook also had a strong season, improving greatly from his freshman campaign. He, along with twins Luke and Mark Frazier, and David Urista, helped to anchor the sophomore-heavy team.

Coach Dyer realizes the loss of six sophomores will impact his team next year, but feels confident with the direction the program is going.

“We’ve got an established program now,” Dyer said. “So when it comes to recruiting, kids who will be looking to stay local and go to a junior college will definitely take a look at our results and want to come here.”