September 17. 2022

Central Arizona College Cross Country traveled to Riverside, California on Saturday to compete in the 41st Annual UCR Invitational.  The meet, which consists of NCAA D1 and D2 Universities mostly from California, provides stiff competition for the cross country squads.  

"I like coming to UCR, it's always great for us to start the season racing against some of the best in the region.  Unfortunately, this year they decided (UCR) to bump us from the invitational race, but the men made the best of it and still produced some quality times"  Stated Coach Jon Harmon.  

The men placed 6th overall in the mens division, missing top 3 by a mere 10 points.  They were led by Sophomore Alazar Getahun, who toured the course in 24:59 and placed 7th overall.  Julian Campos was the next finisher for the men, touring the course in 25:40 which was good enough for 24th overall.  Finishing scoring for the Vaqueros was Elliot Smith (26:04/43rd ovr), Jorge Corona (26:17/55th ovr), and Asante Maez (26:41/81st ovr).  

"The coaching staff challenged the men to step it up this week, we really wanted to test ourselves and push to win the meet.  At one point we were 4th, we just have to finish the races stronger but I would say we are in a good position for the middle of September"  Stated Harmon.

The Vaqueras may not have had as much team success as the men this week, but they did produce some great individual performances.  

"We had almost every lady run faster than last week, they continue to work hard and motivate each other.  I'm very pleased with our progression but we still have a long way to go, it's going to be an exciting next few weeks"  Said Coach Harmon.

The Vaqueras were led by Beatrice Keditukei, who ran a cross country personal best of 19:11 and placed 58th overall.  Following closely was Jaida Lyles, who ran a new personal best 19:16 for 66th place.  Finishing scoring was Lisbet Porras (19:30/85th ovr), Jaedyn Brown (20:38/158th ovr), and Brianna Samuels (22:36/226th ovr).

The women placed 20th out of 27 teams while the men were 6th out of 23 teams.  The only non-university school in attendance was College of Southern Nevada, a NJCAA Junior College from Nevada, they placed 20th for the men and 23rd for the women, respectively.  

For full results from UCR click here.