Women's XC Wins ACCAC and Region I Team Titles

Saturday, October 29, 2022 - 6:00 pm | Dylan Kessler

Coolidge, Ariz. - The Thunderbirds women's cross country team won both team titles at the ACCAC/NJCAA Region I Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

For the first time in its history, the ACCAC and NJCAA Region I Championships were combined into one race. Scoring was separated to determine the overall conference champion along with the Division I & II regional champions. Mesa was scored in the Region I, Div. II results.

Kate Brockman was the individual runner-up for both the ACCAC and Region I, DII with a personal-best time of 18:10.8 on the 5000-meter course. The T-Birds won both the ACCAC team title with 31 points and the Region I, DII team title with 20 points.

This is the first conference title and third region title for the women's team with Head Coach Dan Pescador at the helm. Overall, these are the fifth conference title and seventh region title in program history for the women's team.

"Tremendous and dominating day for the ladies," said Coach Pescador. "They did great against some high-quality teams and showed what they are running for. Kate had another great run, finishing second even though it was not where she wanted to be. It was great to have Anna back in the lineup. She provided that spark we needed to win in a convincing fashion. A couple of things to tweak as we head into nationals, but we're in a great spot."

Individually, all six runners that competed for the T-Birds earned both conference and regional honors.

Kate Brockman: All-ACCAC First Team (2nd - 18:10.8 PB) and All-Region First Team (2nd - 18:10.8 PB)

Anna Harmon: All-ACCAC First Team (5th - 19:37.8) and All-Region First Team (3rd - 19:37.8)

MaKena Thornton: All-ACCAC First Team (7th - 19:59.9) and All-Region First Team (4th - 19:59.9)

Story Alexander: All-ACCAC Second Team (8th - 20:01) and All-Region First Team (5th - 20:01)

Ryan Heiliger: All-ACCAC Second Team (9th - 20:20) and All-Region Second Team (6th - 20:20)

Lucy Lines: All-ACCAC Second Team (10th - 20:21.3) and All-Region Second Team (7th - 20:21.3)

The women's team will wrap up their season at the NJCAA DII National Championship meet on November 12th in Tallahassee, Florida.

Click HERE to view the complete results of the ACCAC/Region I Championships.