October 14, 2023

The Central Arizona College Cross Country Teams participated in the Highlander Invitational on Saturday.  The meet, which was hosted by the University of California Riverside, boasts some of the top universities in California.

The Vaqueras claimed 19th place out of 29 teams.  The schools participating at the meet were NCAA D1, NCAA D2, NAIA, and Junior Colleges.  Some of the top schools in attendance were Nevada, UC Riverside, Long Beach St., Arizona State, UC San Diego, USC, and Cal State Fullerton.

Top finisher for the Vaqueras yet again went to Alesyia Barlow, who toured the course in 22:37 which was good enough for 105th overall. There were 304 runners in this years race.  In addition to Alesyia placing as the Vaqueras top finisher, she also ran the 3rd fastest time by a CAC Vaquera on the 6k course.  

"I'm proud of Alesyia, Jessica, and Alexis." Stated Head Coach Jon Harmon. "They all came across the 5k mark with huge personal best marks and continued to follow through and complete the 6k race." "We don't train for that type of distance so it was impressive that each lady held up and set new benchmarks in that distance."

"Lasundari and Brianna also stepped up today." "All in all, it was a good meet and showed the women that they are on the right path and will continue to get stronger as the season comes to a close" 

The Vaqueras were narrowly defeated by Vanguard, a 4 year institution with a budget and facilities twice the size of a junior college.  However, the Vaqueras were the top junior college, defeating #4 ranked Mesa Community College (D2) and 17th ranked Pima (D1).

The remaining Vaqueras finished as follows:

Jessica Viera (23:24) placed 141st overall and new PR.

Alexis Fisher (23:29) placed 150th overall and new PR.

Temrya Bia (23:53) placed 162nd overall and new PR.

Brianna Samuels (23:59) placed 165th overall and new PR.

Lasundari Baldwin (24:30) 186th overall and new PR.

The men will be back in action on October 28th at the Region 1 Championships, which is being held by Glendale Community College.  The men will race at 8:00am and the women will follow at 9:00am.