October 7, 2023

The Central Arizona College Cross Country teams participated in The George Young Invitational which was hosted by CAC last week.  The course toured the beautiful campus in Coolidge, which started at George Young Gymnasium.

The Vaqueras claimed 1st place out of 2 teams.  The schools participating at the meet were NAIA, NJCAA D1 and D2 colleges.  Schools in attendance were Central Arizona, Phoenix College, Park University, Pima, Estrellea Mountain CC, Southern Nevada, Dine College, Ottawa University, and Tohono O'odham.

Top finisher for the Vaqueras again went to Alesyia Barlow, who toured the course in 20:05 which was good enough to claim meet champion. There were 26 finishers in this years race.  In addition to Alesyia placing as the Vaqueras top finisher, she also won her first collegiate race.

"I'm proud of Alesyia, she knows what she can do in this sport and is starting to believe in herself each week." Stated Head Coach Jon Harmon.

"Temyra, Jessica, Alexis, Brianna, and Lasundari were all together with Alesyia at mile 2 so I was happy to see that and given the temperature and course we ran on I'm very impressed."  "The women really needed a good race to prove to them that they are in shape and I believe we are back on the right path heading into our meet in California." 

The remaining Vaqueras finished as follows:

Temyra Bia (20:08) placed 2nd overall.

Jessica Viera (20:15) placed 3rd overall and new PR.

Alexis Fisher (20:30) placed 4th overall and new PR.

Lasundari Baldwin (21:17) placed 6th overall and season PR.

The women will be back in action on October 14th at the Highlander Invitational, which is being held by University of California Riverside.  The men will race at 8:00am and the women will follow at 9:00am.