San Diego, CA - The San Diego Mesa Men's and Women's Cross Country Program hosted the PCAC Cross Country Championships at their home course at NTC Park in Liberty Station on Friday. The conference schools included Cuyamaca, Southwestern, San Diego City College, and Imperial Valley College. Both SD Mesa men and women squads swept the individual and team titles. The Women placed first with 20 points and all five women earned all conference honors finishing in the top 12 (The top 15 finishers earn all conference honors). This is the women's first conference title since 2015. The Men finished first with 18 points and 12 men were all conference. The Men have won three straight conference championships.
"Our athletes were focused and executed their race plans", said Head Coach Sean Ricketts. "95% of our runners improved their time from when they competed on the same course 3 weeks ago. They are progressing well as we prepare for Regionals and State."
The Olympian Women (Ranked 4th in the State and 3rd in SoCal) were lead by their team captain Sophomore Yahaira Zuniga 1st place (18:44-course record). Zuniga was followed by Freshman Gina Queck 2nd place (19:32), Sophomore Beyonce Wright 4th place (20:55), Freshman Raegan Beckham 6th place (21:29), and Freshman Bri Ayala 12th place (23:31).
The SD Mesa Men (Ranked 3rd in the State and 2nd in SoCal) were lead by team captains Sophomore Jonathan Kelly 1st place (20:05-course record) and Sophomore Esteban Magana 2nd place (20:21). They were followed by all conference teammates Freshman Juan Rosales 4th place (20:43), Sophomore Franky Dolores 5th place (20:47), Freshman Alan Jimenez 6th Place (20:49), Freshman David Millan 7th Place (20:50), Freshman Bryce Kueker 8th Place (20:50), Sophomore Christian Salt 9th Place (20:50), Freshman Devin Provence 10th Place (20:53), Freshman Jesus Villarreal 11th Place (20:53), Sophomore Carson Sanchez 14th Place (21:35), and Freshman Joey Acosta 15th Place (21:38).
Next up, the Olympians travel to the SoCal Regional Championships at Mile Square Park in Fountain Valley on Friday, November 5. The Women race 5K at 11:00AM and the Men race 4 Miles at 12:00PM.