Vaqueros Win ACCAC Conference Championship with Perfect Score
Saturday
Central Arizona College Cross Country competed at the 2024 ACCAC Conference Championship on Saturday which was held at Glendale Heros Park. This year's host was Estrella Mountain Community College and featured every team from the ACCAC with newcomer Southern Nevada.
Unlike previous years, this year's conference championship had two separate divisions. The race consisted of both divisions racing at the same time but separate scoring according to each teams division.
"It was odd not being able to compete for one championship, almost takes away the purpose of naming it a championship" Stated Head Coach Jon Harmon. "That did not prevent the men from doing what was expected, I was quite proud of them."
This years meet took place on a record setting temperature day in the valley of the sun, combine that with a slow course, resulted in time results that don't represent what the Vaqueros are capable of doing.
"Yeah it was hot" stated Harmon "But everyone had to compete in the same environment, so I explained to the men we just needed to focus on our objectives beforehand and implement them".
The Vaqueros were lead by sophomore Samuel Gilson, who claimed individual champion honors. Gilson was 1st overall and was the 1st D1 runner to cross the line with a 26:01 for the 8k distance.
Rounding out scoring for the Vaqueros were:
Japhet Kiprono (2nd overall) ran 26:16 for 2nd place in the D1 race.
Jayden Smith (4th overall) ran 26:26 for 3rd place in the D1 race.
Sulliman Rodriguez (5th overall) ran 26:26 for 4th place in the D1 race.
Sandile Pule (9th overall) ran 27:19 for 5th place in the D1 race.
Jorge Felix Valle (26th overall) ran 28:28 for 13th place in the D1 race.
Emmanuel Simiyu (33rd overall) ran 29:38 for 15th place in the D1 race.
CAC left as ACCAC Conference Champions with a perfect score of 15, which means they took the top 5 scoring spots for team scores.
Cross Country will look to improve on their championship win as they compete at the CAMPY Invitational held at Signal Peak Campus on Saturday October 5th.