MCC Cross Country looks to capture Region I title on Saturday

Friday October 27, 2023 - 11:30 a.m. | Dylan DeVlieger

Mesa Men's and Women's Cross Country will take to the road on Saturday as they compete in the NJCAA Region I Championships.

MCC will be going into the meet banged up a bit as both teams will be without multiple athletes. 

Men's Cross Country:

The Thunderbirds will be without Javier Garcia and Ernest Green, both have been top five runners for Mesa this season. According to assistant coach Spencer Peterson and company, it will be a next man up mentality for Mesa as they will look to the rest of their team to guide them to victory.

"We've been dealt a challenging situation with Javier and Ernest not able to compete, but our team is a bunch of resilient and strong athletes where they can and will step up to answer the call," said Peterson.

This year the men's team has been fortunate to have a deep team as they will have Jorge Trujillo, Greyson Akers, Samuel Green, Joshua Lumpkin, Samuel Van Alstine, Wyatt Williams, and Austin Rueff all competing on Saturday.

Women's Cross Country:

The Lady T-Birds have been guided by youth all year as their talented freshman Carmella Baldwin is a Conference Champion, while Regina Raimo, Lauren Kazaroff, Danna Martinez Porras, and Kendra Guest have all put up respectable performances this season.

Mesa will be without the services of Taylor Jacobs, Destiny Hernandez, and Tiffany Sanchez. Lauren Kazaroff will be competing for the first time since she took to the course at the George Kyte Classic all the way back on Sept. 2.

"We're looking forward to seeing how this group competes together and if they can find a way to rally themselves into championship mode and peak at the National meet in just two weeks," said Peterson.

The men's race will begin at 9:00 a.m. while the women will follow at 9:45 a.m. Both races will take place at Heroes Regional Park in Glendale, AZ.