OCC women rule the region

LA JOLLA -- Orange Coast College’s women’s cross country team had five runners in the top 21 and won the Southern California Community College regional finals at UC San Diego on Friday.

Gaby Santana led the way for the Pirates, finishing eighth overall with a time of 19 minutes and 43.5 seconds over the five-kilometer course. Teammate Jewel Butler placed 11th in a time of 19:47.9, followed by Elda Hernandez in 18th (20:08.2), Araceli Huerta in 20th (20:16.4), and Samantha Cadwell in 21st (20:17.6).

Orange Coast rolled to the team title with a combined score of 78, well ahead of Riverside’s 151 and Glendale’s 172.

The Pirates’ next stop will be the state community college championships Nov. 19 at Woodward Park in Fresno.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Holy Names 87,

Vanguard 75

OAKLAND -- The host Hawks led, 40-39, at halftime and pulled away in the season opener for both teams Friday.

Senior Levi Seekins shot 10 of 13 from the field to score a team-high 20 points for Vanguard, which received 13 points from senior Tim Burnette and 10 from senior Leon Rosborough.

Seeking also grabbed a team-high nine rebounds.

Marshal Hartman led the winners with 23 points.

MEN’S WATER POLO

Orange Coast 11,

Fullerton 9

RIVERSIDE -- The Pirates jumped early and held on to win in the semifinals of the Orange Empire Conference tournament at Riverside Community College.

Orange Coast scored six goals in the first period and led 9-4 after the first two periods. The Hornets rallied in the second half, but were unable to close the gap.

Nikola Popovic scored a team-high four goals and Ivan Bjelica added three goals. Brett Hellmich posted seven saves in goal.

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 11, Fullerton 9

Score by Quarters