November 13, 2021

The Central Arizona College Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams competed in their last meets of the season in the first half of this month.  The Vaqueras highlighted their season with an impressive perfect score of 15 at the Division 1 Region Meet, their second perfect score of the season.  For a team to hold such an honor, they must place their top 5 runners in the top 5 positions.  Two weeks later, the Vaqueras placed 8th out of 23 complete teams at the NJCAA Division 1 National Meet held in Richmond, VA.  

Leading the way at the national meet for the Vaqueras was Makena Thornton, who toured the course in an impressive 5k PR of 19:13, good enough for 20th place out of 160 runners.  Makena was followed by her teammates Lisbet Porras (28th overall), Ariz Duarte (38th Overall), Anette Carrasco Cota (44th Overall) and Beatrice Keditukei (55th Overall).  "I was very impressed with Makena and Lisbet today.  They are both relatively new to this sport and will only continue to do great things.  Also, Anette stepped it up for us and placed 4th on the team when she had been our 5th to 6th runner all year"  Stated Coach Jon Harmon. 

When asked about the team's performance Harmon stated "We were at a disadvantage not having a season last year, almost every school at the national meet was able to compete last season and championship racing experience is critical.  We also had some ladies not meet their expectations today which impacted our team score" 

The Vaqueras had the 2nd best scoring average for teams in the top 10 but did not have any individuals in the top 10 which greatly affected their overall position.  The ladies capped off the season with having the best average of any junior college team in Arizona at the National Meet for both Division 1 and 2.

The Vaqueros finshed their season in similar fashion, placing 8th out of 26 complete teams at the National Championship.  Raphael Kitur lead the Vaqueros with a 19th overall finish, touring the course in 25:07.  Raphael was followed closely by teammate Christian Franklin, who was 23rd overall out of 198 runners.  Rounding out scoring for the Vaqueros was Benjamin Morfin (42nd Overall), Alazar Getahun (57th Overall), and Davin Soto (80th Overall).  "I'm very happy for Christian, he came to CAC not ever competing in the 8k distance and was able to be the 4th American to cross the finish line today.  He's a hard worker and grinds it out to the very end.  I'm also happy for Benjamin and Alazar, both were coming into the season as our 8th and 9th runners but really stepped it up the last 2 months by not complaining and working hard" Stated Harmon. 

When asked about the men's team effort Harmon stated "Well we had Raphael and Christian in a great position the first half of the race but they started to fall off after that, they will both get more racing experience as they progress in collegiate running.  We also didn't have our number 3 runner out there, he's been injured for a few weeks and we didn't want to risk any further injury.  All in all, both teams were disappointed but we learn from these experiences and cannot have any excuses. We just have to regroup and be hungry for next year." 

The men's team lead all junior colleges from Arizona at the national meet with the best team scoring average consisting of its top 5 runners.

The men's and women's cross country teams get a few weeks off before preparing for the 2022 track season.  The first meet is slated for January next year.  

  ((Christian Franklin, 4th American to finish at the NJCAA National Meet, was also 23rd Overall)