Four wins, nine qualifiers highlight MCC showing at ACCAC track and field championships

  TUCSON, AZ - Mesa picked up four event championships and nine NJCAA qualifying marks to highlight its showing at the ACCAC Track and Field Championships Saturday.

  Austin McCrum (So., Carson, Wash/Stevenson H.S.) took the men's pole vault title, and improved his NJCAA mark to 16-4 3/4, as part of a group of the three MCC vaulters who met the NJCAA standard. Leonard Belgardt IV was second at 15-7 and Treston Slater was fifth with a jump of 14-7 1/4. Belgardt already has a better mark, but Slater was a new qualifier giving Mesa four in the event.

  David Figueroa (So., Mesa, AZ/Nogales H.S.) won the 800 in 1:52.84 and had already qualified. Jose Retana (Fr., Mesa, AZ/Skyline H.S.) was second in the 1500 in 4:01.98 and added his name to the NJCAA list.

  Matt Garcia (So., Phoenix, AZ/Sunnyslope H.S.) captured the hammer with a toss of 180-1, just short of the qualifying standard he already posted and Austin Atkins barely missed his previous mark, but bettered the standard, with a 166-2 throw while placing third.

  Dana Brady (So., Bradenton, Fla/Saguaro (AZ) H.S.) won the women's pole vault with a 10-11 3/4 leap and Beatriz Martinez (So., Chandler, AZ/Chandler H.S.) was second in the 800 at 2:17.95, both NJCAA qualifying marks but short of what they had previously posted.

  Mesa will host the annual Mesa Classic Friday evening at John D. Riggs Stadium, a meet which always attracts numerous athletes from major NCAA Division I programs.