Jackson leads Lady T-Birds at UC Riverside Invite
Sunday September 22, 2024 - 3:30 p.m. | Dylan DeVlieger
The Mesa College women's and men's teams competed at the prestigious UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday in beautiful conditions amongst many outstanding collegiate teams (NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA at all Divisional levels) in the western USA.
The Lady T-Birds team finished 7th overall, losing to only two community college programs in the field (Salt Lake City CC, 3rd overall and Paradise Valley CC, 5th overall). There were 40 teams entered and 280 athletes competed.
5k Course:
Leading the way for the T-Birds was Kinley Jackson, finishing 38th overall with a personal best time of 18:29, followed by Lucy Melzer, personal best time of 18:48 (60th overall), Marissa Hernandez, personal best time of 18:56 (69th overall), Regina Raimo, personal best time of 19:06 (92nd overall), Katie Munoz, personal best time of 19:11 (98th overall), Carmella Baldwin, 19:58 (174th overall), and Destiny Hernandez, season best time of 21:27 (250th overall).
The Lady T-birds had a season best split time between their No. 1 runner and No. 5 runner (42 seconds), and a season best split time between their No. 1 runner and their No. 7 runner (2:58).
The women's team got their first real glance at a large field of athletes, how to race, and battle for position. The team learned a lot from this meet and will use this experience as a lesson on how to further improve as the season moves closer to the National meet on Nov. 9. Having trained through this meet over the last two weeks is a clear demonstration of the potential the team has at Nationals. The team is focused on improving week to week and peaking for Nationals and this meet checked all the boxes towards the goal of being among the top three teams in the USA.
Next up for the Lady T-Birds is the ACCAC Conference Meet Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 at Heroes Park in Glendale, AZ.
Click here to view the 2024 season photo gallery.
