Yotuel Garcia Wins Individual Title as Men's XC Finishes Fourth at Nationals

Saturday, November 12, 2022 - 5:50 PM ET | Dylan Kessler

Tallahassee, Fla. - The Mesa Thunderbirds men's cross country team was led by an individual national title performance by Youtel Garcia and finished fourth overall at NJCAA Div. II National Championships.

Garcia is the first individual national champion in program history as he ran a time of 25:25.4 on the 8000-meter course. The runner-up tried to make a move to beat Garcia down the final home stretch, but Garcia did a final surge to hold onto the lead and win by two seconds.

Garcia's performance throughout the race was a remarkable effort as he remained in the front pack for the entire race, and then made his move with a fantastic surge with 500 meters left in the race and pushed his way to an individual national championship. Garcia ends the year undefeated against junior college runners.

"What an amazing day for Yotuel," says Head Coach Dan Pescador. "He really outperformed everyone and stuck to his strategy of staying in the front and making his move when he was ready. I'm so proud of how he competed and it was an exciting day to see him win the national championship.  Overall, however, it was a tough day for the men's team, but they competed well enough to place fourth for the second year in a row."

Click HERE to view the complete results.

T-Birds men's finishers at the NJCAA Div. II Championships (8,000 meters):

Yotuel Garcia (1st - 25:25.4, All-American)

Javier Garcia (18th - 26:46 Honorable Mention All-American)

Hayden Gelder (28th - 27:03.8 Honorable Mention All-American)

Yael Caballero Ferro (31st - 27:05.7)

Wyatt Williams (43rd - 27:49.9)

Greyson Akers (73rd - 28:46.8)

Joshua Lumpkin (125th - 30:17.5)