MCC Cross Country Season Preview
Monday August 19, 2024 - 5:00 p.m. | Dylan DeVlieger
MCC Men's & Women's Cross Country ramps up for the 2024 season which kicks off on Saturday in the Mesa Early Bird Open.
Head coach Daniel Pescador is excited about both his men and women as they look to respond after coming up short in their 2023 seasons.
Women's Cross Country:
The Lady T-Birds are coming off a 2nd place finish at the 2023 Region meet and a 4th place at the 2023 NJCAA National meet.
For Pescador, a fourth place finish at Nationals wasn't what they envisioned at the beginning of the season, but with all the obstacles the team overcame finishing in the top five nationally was an accomplishment in itself.
"It was tough to get fourth but given the year we had it was amazing for the girls to accomplish that. We had some culture issues and buy-in. To miss third place and that trophy by ten points was an accomplishment in itself but we were disappointed in falling short," said Pescador.
Mesa had a superstar freshman athlete in 2023 as Carmella Baldwin took first in the ACCAC Championship, was the West Region Female Athlete of the Year, a NJCAA DII All-American 1st Team member, and took home 3rd place at Nationals.
Baldwin credits her historic freshman season to the structure and the program as a whole which allowed her to truly compete to the best of her abilities.
"Last year I felt like being a college athlete and the change from high school, there was much more structure and I enjoyed that. I was more open to the whole process and it allowed me to see what I was capable of the whole season," said Baldwin.
In their 2023 campaign the Lady T-Birds were blessed to have such a consistent reliable athlete like Baldwin, on the other side of the coin Mesa did consistently lack when compared to other teams in the conference and nationally in keeping their 2-5 runners close to Baldwin when it came to finishes.
In the ACCAC Championships, Baldwin took first while Mesa's second finisher came in 11th, their third runner was 18th, fourth was 19th, and their fifth runner finished in 25th place.
At Nationals Baldwin took 3rd place individually and the other top Lady T-Birds finished, 23rd, 30th, 50th, 58th respectively. Pescador and his staff made it a point to try and bridge the gap between Baldwin and the rest of the team to help them as a collective unit excel.
"When you have twenty places between your first two runners that's a big gap to overcome and that was a big point this year for us in finding girls that would bridge that gap and I think we've done that," said Pescador.
Pescador believes the freshman class that the program has brought in can make an immediate impact in their quest for a national title.
"For the women we're returning a big group and have the most talented freshman class that I've ever had coming in," said Pescador, "the expectations are very high for this group. Kinley Jackson and Marisa Hernandez I think are going to play a big part this year."
As many freshmen do, Jackson, Hernandez, and the rest of the newcomers will need guidance just like Baldwin and her fellow freshman needed just a year ago.
Baldwin and the sophomores are excited to lead the new T-Birds and hope to give them support which due to the lack of sophomores last season fell a bit short.
"I do see myself as a mentor towards the incoming freshman, when I came in there was only one girl who had that experience and this year we have a group of us that have that experience. I think we can definitely push the freshman to succeed," said Baldwin.
Pescador believes the group he has this season are a real threat to make a run nationally, a podium finish is the expectation for his ladies, the hopeful outcome is the program's first national title.
The crown that Mesa craves has been just a fingertip away for the last three seasons, finishing 4th in 2023, 2nd in 2022, and 3rd in 2021. For the team it's not just having the ability to get over the hump, but having the belief that they are not only able to compete against the best of the best, but to become the best of the best.
"Having the ultimate belief that we can accomplish that goal and that we can run with the best of the best. Having our mid group whether it's 2 or 3-5 we just have to be the best at those positions and being confident we have the best third girl and best number four," said Pescador.
Men's Cross Country:
The T-Bird Men had an up and down year in 2023. Mesa was able to capture the ACCAC Championship early on, a Runner-Up finish at the Region meet, and took home 6th at Nationals.
A component of their rollercoaster season was due to injuries, losing one of their runners Javier Garcia did not help their cause and the tweaks and nagging pain seemed to follow the T-Birds as the season progressed.
"Unlucky breaks, we won the conference meet pretty handily and they showed our true firepower and depth we had," said Pescador when asked about the rollercoaster last season, "as we progressed throughout the season we had weird or unlucky breaks with injuries. We ultimately lost three of our top five runners."
For Mesa it was always a next man up mentality and the team saw huge strides made from many different athletes including Gabriel Gonzales.
Coming into his freshman season, Gonzales was not confident that he would be able to hold against his teammates let alone his competition. Slowly over time Gonzales was able to gain his footing and ramp up his abilities to lead his team at Nationals finishing in 9th place and earning All-American honors in the process.
"I had an amazing season, the best cross country season I ever had. I set new personal bests and improved my endurance and speed," said Gonzales, "when I first got here I didnt think I could compete with these guys because they were doing cartwheels on the trails while I was gasping for air. Over time once I found my stride I began to fit in."
Pescador will be looking at Gonzales along with other returners to lead the way, and with a talented freshman class coming in the T-Birds are head and shoulders a more well rounded team than they were just a year ago.
"I would say it's a combination of returners and incoming freshmen," Pescador said when asked why this year's team is primed for success, "Jorge Trujillo, Gabe Gonzales, Austin Rueff, and Kai Robinson coming back, their year two will be better than their freshman year. With the newcomers, on paper they're better than the freshman we had last year," said Pescador.
Gonzales and the hard work he put in last season earned the respect of his teammates and coaching staff to be looked up to as a leader of the team. Leading by example and giving effort in all he does is how Gonzales plans to lead his team in the right direction.
"I look to lead them by example, I just try to set an example with my efforts and actions. It's all about taking on a workout hard cause that's how we should take on races," said Gonzales.
