GCC's Ozzie Huerta pictured with the other NJCAA All-Americans from Saturday's Division III Cross Country Championship.

Gloucester County College’s Sophomore Cross Country runner Ozzie Huerta has filled up his pockets over the past two years with plenty of championship medallions. He has won multiple Region and District events and a GCC-record 6 NJCAA Individual National Championships.  On Saturday November 5 Ozzie competed for GCC the final time at the NJCAA Division III Cross Country National Championships in Westfield, MA.

Huerta finished his career by earning NJCAA All-American honors for the 8th time with a fifth place finish at the Cross Country Championships. He ran a good race but conditions did not favor him and the strong field defiinitely had him marked as the race favorite. GCC had the camera rolling at the race and a short video from the race is below...

Click here to link to recap from NJCAA.org and results page...

Huerta has been the most prolific champion at a college known for its championships. The Roadrunners have captured 18 Team National Championships and have had 55 Individual National Championship performances over the years. The past two years GCC has been honored as the nation’s best NJCAA non-scholarship athletic program.  Many great athletes have performed at GCC over the years to win those championships and honors but Huerta now towers above them all in terms of championships. The next best at GCC is Aaron Hartman, a three-time NJCAA Individual Champion with the Men’s Tennis program.

Huerta began at GCC as a part-time student in the Fall of 2007. He was working to pay for college and was being heavily recruited to join the athletic program by Head Cross Country and Track & Field Coach Ryan Hughes. Huerta finally decided to join the Track & Field Team in the Spring of 2010 and has not looked back. He won the 5,000m and 10,000m races at the NJCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships that Spring then won the Cross Country National Championship last fall before upping his Track totals and winning the 5,000m, 10,000m, and 3,000m Steeplechase events at the Spring 2011 Track & Field Championships. Huerta was named the NJCAA Division III National Track Athlete of the Year in both of his seasons of Track & Field.

Huerta has also been a leader for the Track & Field and Cross Country programs. His drive to train is constant and work ethic superb and this has carried over to many of his teammates. He helped the Cross Country Team to a 3^rd place finish at the National Championships last fall and the Track & Field Team has finished 3^rd (2010) and 5^th (2011) during his two seasons with the program. On Saturday his fifth place finish led the team again and overall the Roadrunners finished in 5th place as a team.