Men's XC finishes sixth at Nationals while Women's XC takes home fourth
Monday November 13, 2023 - 10:30 a.m. | Dylan DeVlieger
MCC Men's Cross Country took home 6th place while Women's Cross Country took home 4th place at the NJCAA Cross Country National Championships on Saturday.
Women's Cross Country:
Mesa finished fourth as a team as freshman Carmella Baldwin continued to dominate the field finishing 3rd overall (18:23.20) earning All-American honors. This is Baldwin's 4th top five finish of the season. Teammate Regina Raimo also earned All-American honors with her 23rd place finish while running a personal best time of 19:39.10.
MCC had five athletes finish within the top 60 as Taylor Jacobs finished 30th (19:51.60), Lauren Kazaroff finished 50th (20:13.10), and Kendra Guest took home 58th place (20:27.10).
Jacobs, Kazaroff, and Guest all ran season best times in the race.
Though Mesa did not make the podium, their performances and efforts are something to be celebrated given the turbulence they went through during the season.
"Though we missed the podium we're happy to have finished 4th given the season we've had. There were plenty of times this season that we competed in meets where we were missing many runners due to injuries," said assistant coach Spencer Peterson, "they really came together in the end and gave it their all, and put themselves in a position to be on the podium again. We fell a little short, but are extremely proud of their efforts by each and every member of the Lady T-Bird team!"
With the women's team being composed of mainly freshmen (only one sophomore) look for the Lady T-Birds to make a lot of noise next season as the freshman look to build on their success.
Men's Cross Country:
Mesa took home sixth place as a team while Greyson Akers led the way for the Thunderbirds, grinding out a top 10 finish as he came in 9th place (25:22.80) earning All-American honors.
Head coach Daniel Pescador could not be more proud of Akers, the sophomore has worked continuously to improve himself in his time at Mesa.
"He's worked hard these past 2 years, and made tremendous improvements. All of his work really paid off today," said Pescador.
Mesa had five athletes finish within the top 50 as Samuel Green took home 27th (25:57.60), Jorge Trujillo finished 31st (26:06.40), Gabriel Gonzales came in 39th (26:30.60), and Joshua Lumpkin took home 50th place (26:46.00).
Ranked No. 2 in the country MCC coming into the race the hopes were high for the Thunderbirds to compete for a national championship. Many factors contributed to the sixth place finish as a team as MCC did start the race off well; they just weren't able to execute the last half of the race.
"Overall it was a very tough and disappointing day for the men's team. Coming into the race, we had very high hopes and were positioned to do well, said coach Peterson, "we knew we had a very fit and strong group that competed today, and the race started out well, as a group we just didn't execute the last half of the race."
MCC as a team had a great season, being ranked No. 1 in the country at one point and taking home the ACCAC Championship, but falling short at Nationals will leave a bad taste in the mouth of their sophomores, but can provide fuel to the fire for the freshman next season.
"Not the ending our sophomores wanted, but it's been a fun 2 years; this provided a great learning experience for our freshman," said coach Pescador.
To view the full results, click here.
