Garcia and King Leads Men's Team at Regionals

October 29, 2021 - 12:00 pm | Dylan Kessler

Glendale, Ariz. - The Mesa Thunderbirds men's cross country team were led by Yotuel Garcia and Connor King at the NJCAA Region I Cross Country Championships Friday morning at Heroes Regional Park.

The T-Birds fell short of the region team title, with a final score of 28-27 against the Paradise Valley Pumas. This is the ninth region runner-up team title in program history. Phoenix College was third with 77 points.

Garcia was the individual region champion (26:14.2) and King was the runner-up (26:29.5) on the 8000-meter course. Garcia is the first individual region champion under Coach Pescador's tenure.

Brandon Wilson (7th, 27:17.5), Masen Hofmann (8th, 27:24), Geoffrey Grossthal (10th, 27:52.5), Tomas Martin (13th, 29:31.6), and Kaleb Ross (22nd, 32:38.3) round out the seven T-Birds athletes that raced. Six of the athletes earned All-Region Honors.

"Very good performances from Yotuel and Connor," says Head Coach Dan Pescador. "I was really proud with how aggressively they competed. Overall, it was a good team effort, not the result we were looking for, but it's promising to know that we can compete well even without three of our top runners."

For the sixth straight year, the T-Birds have qualified for the NJCAA Cross Country Championships, which will be held on November 13th at Pole Green Park, just outside of Richmond, Virginia.

NJCAA REGION I CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS COMPLETE RESULTS

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