Fredericks, Sokhela continue momentum following wins at The Master’s University Invitational by prevailing at Pomona College; Cal Poly Pomona has strong tuneup for CCAA meet

By Pete Marshall for DyeStat

CLAREMONT, Calif. – The depth of the Cal Poly Pomona cross country program was on full display Saturday at the Pomona-Pitzer Cross Country Invitational, as the Broncos swept the team titles in their last competition before the California Community College Athletic Association conference championships in two weeks.

The men had 10 runners among the top 16 finishers in the 8-kilometer race and finished with 29 points, beating out runner up The Master’s University, which had 48.

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The Broncos were paced by Ricardo Vargas, who finished fourth with a time of 25:02.8 on the course which looped around the Pomona College campus, starting and finishing on the infield of the track.

“The strategy was to take control of the race, work together as a team. There’s a lot of us, so we wanted to see what we could do as a team,” said Vargas, a redshirt sophomore. “We were able to work on some things we were able to correct. More or less we (teammates) were within five to 10 seconds of each other the entire race.”

The winner was Senzo Sokhela of Westmont, who ran down Michael Teran of Valor Track Club in the final 500 meters, finishing in 24:58.6.

“I wanted to take more control today because the course is so technical,” Sokhela said. “There are a lot of narrow pathways and turns. You don’t want to be caught in the middle or the back because you’ll be playing catch-up the whole time.”

Sokhela was an NAIA Indoor National Champion in the 1,000 meters and an NAIA Outdoor National Champion in the 800 meters last spring in track for Westmont, which is now competing at the NCAA Division 2 level. He also won Sept. 23 at The Master’s University Invitational at Central Park in Santa Clarita. 

“I’m starting to feel that I should not be just a track guy,” Sokhela said. “So, I’m pushing a lot more on the cross country side. In terms of national competition, I have a lot of improvement to do to start moving up those ranks.”

He edged out Teran, a University of Portland product, who is ramping up with the hopes of representing Mexico in the 5,000 or 10,000 in the Olympics next year.

“I was a little bit nervous, I’ll be honest with you,” said Teran who finished with a time of 24:59.1. “It was my first race in cross country (this season). It was a rust-buster. I wasn’t looking for time, I wasn’t looking for place. It was more getting that rhythm and strength for the indoor season coming up soon.”

The women’s team race was much closer, with the Broncos 34 points barely edging out The Master’s by one point.

Redshirt freshman Alondra Arias was Cal Poly Pomona’s top finisher, with a time on the 6-kilometer course of 22:25.6 to take third place. The Broncos had six runners among the top 13.

“This was my first time running Pomona-Pitzer, so I didn’t know what to expect,” Arias said. “Especially with the loops and turns and everything. I just came in here with the game plan to just stay engaged, just knowing what I was after, which was a team win. When we started, I felt we had a pretty good pack at the front. It was just a point of us communicating with each other.”

The winner of the women’s race was Hannah Fredericks of The Master’s, who won in 21:24.7, easily defeating runner-up Annika Carlson of Chapman (22:16.9). Fredericks also prevailed Sept. 23 at the Mustangs’ home meet.

“The race went out at a pretty decent pace. We were just going out there trying to make it honest and run hard the second half,” Fredericks said. “Sometimes it’s challenging to run alone, but it’s also really sweet, because you can think about why we run and we ultimately run for the Lord.”

The races had several NCAA Division 3 teams as well, but most of the top runners from those schools were in Pennsylvania Saturday for the Division 3 Pre-Nationals.