Friday

Central Arizona College Cross Country competed in the Region 1 Championship hosted by Mesa Community College on Friday.  The meet, which consisted of all the junior colleges that make up Region 1, was a tune up before the national meet in two weeks.

"I explained to both teams that we needed to go out and set the tone for our National Championship meet in November, I wanted us to go into the meet with confidence and execution." Stated Head Coach Jon Harmon.

The Vaqueros ran a near perfect score against the D1 programs Pima and Southern Nevada, respectively.  The Vaqueros rested two from their top 4 which gave an opportunity for some of the younger runners to step up at a championship meet.

"I told the men that we aren't racing our complete squad but that didn't mean it was a rest day.  It meant that I wanted the others to step up and help the team win and I'm happy they did"  Stated Harmon.

The Vaqueros were led by Samuel Gilson for the third consecutive meet.  Samuel posted a 25:51 over 8km (1st overall) and was 1st in Division 1. Samuel also earned All-Region honors.  

"Sam is running with a lot of confidence right now and what I enjoy is he is also stepping into a leadership role and willing to encourage and support his teammates"  Stated Harmon.

Rounding out scoring for the Vaqueros were:

Sandile Pule (2nd overall) completed the course in 26:21 for second in the region and earned All-Region honors.

Jayden Smith (3rd overall) completed the course in 26:21 for third in the region and earned All-Region honors.

Marius Delchard (12th overall) completed the course in 27:40 for 5th in the region and earned All-Region honors.

Jorge Felix Valle (13th overall) completed the course in 27:27 for 6th in the region and earned All-Region honors.

Emmanuel Simiyu (18th overall) completed the course in 28:10 for 9th in the region and earned All-Region honors.

Central Arizona won the meet with a score of 17 points (a perfect score is 15) without two of their top 4 runners.  Southern Nevada (20th in nation) was second with 53 points while Pima took third with 57 points, respectively. 

Cross Country will conclude their season at the NJCAA D1 National Championship held at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia on 11/9.