Tuesday,

Central Arizona College Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams have lofty goals for the 24-25 season.  One of those goals, to build upon their results from last year, remains at the forefront of the plan.

"Our women's team, unlike the men, started the season off very slow"  Stated Head Coach Jonathan Harmon, who enters his 14th season with the program.  "The ladies started to get stronger as the season went on but we ran out of time."

The Vaqueras went into the National meet ranked 10th in the nation but ended up 6th out of 27 teams.  For most programs, a top 10 finish is excellent but for the Vaqueras it was a disappointment.

"Last season most of the women were receptive to the training which is why we got better but the inexperience crept up and we weren't strong enough to close strong at nationals"  "I don't foresee that happening with this group, I expect better results and I know the women do too" stated Harmon.

The Vaqueras lead the Nation in consecutive top 10 finishes at the NJCAA National Meet and also lead the Nation in the most total top 10 finishes at the National Meet.

This year the squad will be lead by returning sophomore Jessica Viera, who aims to improve from her result from last season at Nationals.  She will lead a very talented incoming group of freshman who will help the team's goal of getting back onto the podium.

"Jessica worked hard over the summer and every run it has shown.  She's in tremendous shape so now its just going to be to apply all of it on race day, I know she will really take great leaps this year" mentioned Harmon.

Jessica will lead one of the largest group of women CAC has had this season at the UCR Invitational held in Riverside, CA.  That race will take place on September 21st with the next week being the ACCAC Championship Meet.