Women's Cross Country place 2nd at Regionals

Casa Grande, AZ- The Mesa men and women's cross country teams competed in the Region 1 Championships on Saturday, October 31st at Villago Park in Casa Grande, AZ.  

The men rounded out the field with a 5th place finish, while the women ran to a Runner-up finish.  

The men were paced by Highland-Alum Zach Harrach, who placed 17th with a 26:47 time.  

"I thought the men ran a pretty good race," said head cross country coach Dan Pescador, "considering we were without one of our top runners. Zach really ran well and mixed it up today aiming for a season best."  

The men didn't finish as they had hoped, but had good performances by Ramiro Ortiz and Angel Torres.  

"I thought Ramiro and Angel had one of the best races for our team, and it was definitely their best all year. They knew we were a man down and we need others to step up, I thought they did a great job of that," said Coach Pescador.

The women's team was highlighted by a team Runner-up finish, led by All-Region performances by Adeline Montgomery who finished 2nd with a time of18:49, Gabby Ybarra 6th in 19:36, Samantha Miller was 7th with a time of 19:36.  

"I thought the women had a very stellar day in being able to bounce back from a few weeks ago to win a Runner-up team finish," said Coach Pescador.  

The women fel ljust 17 points away from Central Arizona who's ranked in the top 3 in the country.  

"I think the girls just showed to themselves that they could run with anyone in the country, and it has boosted their confidence," said Coach Pescador.

"Gabby and Sam really broke out and had very good races. They have been chasing the CAC girls all season long and it came down to the last 200 meters, which Gabby and Sam really outraced the group they were in to help solidify our 2nd place team finish. Hats off to CAC and Pima as they really push us to run our best," said Coach Pescador.

Next up for the MCC teams is the NJCAA National Championships in Fort Dodge, Iowa on November 14th.