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 women from racing and finishing as a team, 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 Vaqueras are capable of doing.

"Yeah it was hot" stated Harmon "But everyone had to compete in the same environment, so I explained to the women we just needed to focus on our objectives beforehand and implement them".

The Vaqueras were once again lead by sophomore Jessica Chaparro Viera, who claimed runner-up honors.  Jessica was 3rd overall and was the 2nd D1 runner to cross the line with a 19:08 for the 5k distance.

Rounding out scoring for the Vaqueras were:

Alesyia Barlow (6th overall) ran 19:34 for 3rd place in the D1 race.

Rylee Koopee (15th overall) ran 20:15 for a new personal record and 5th place in the D1 race.

Cassidy Davidson (16th overall) ran 20:16 for 4th place in the D1 race.

Colleen Allen (19th overall) ran 20:29 for 8th place in the D1 race.

Reshila Curley (30th overall) ran 21:29 for 17th place in the D1 race.

Tatyana Enriquez (31st overall) ran 21:47 for 18th place in the D1 race.

Lyneen Jepkosgei (41st overall) ran 23:05 for 21st place in the D1 race.

CAC left as ACCAC Conference Champions with a score of 25, which means they took 3 of 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.