4/29/21 Mesa Community College

The Central Arizona College Men's and Women's Teams competed  in the NJCAA Region Meet this week and had some notable performances, unfortunately, due to lack of athletes competing for CAC the team was outmanned and claimed runner-up honors for both teams.  Pima Community College, led by former CAC and NJCAA Hall of Fame Coach Al Shirley, won the meet with total scores of 224 for men and 285 for women, respectively. 

"We performed well but not quite good enough for the win, based on the circumstances the team left it out there today.  Very proud of both teams, we will be ready for nationals"  Stated Head Coach Andrew Wood.  "Based on the amount of individuals that ran personal records today, I'd say that the teams competed with grit and am very happy on everyone's effort.  Now we have a little over a week to get those that have qualified ready for the most important meet of the season, the NJCAA Nationals" Distance Coach Jon Harmon reiterated. 

The following athletes led scoring for the Vaqueros and Vaqueras by placing in the top 8 of their respected events, propelling the teams to a second place finish: Trayvion White-Austin (32 points), Kwanda Knight (31 points), Joshua Bowen (26 points), Salomay Agyei (22.5 points), Princess Kara (23 points), and Precious Robinson (22 points).

The sprints, distance, hurdle, field, throws, and decathlon all contributed to runner-up honors for the team.  Sprints (100, 200, 400) scored a combined 86 points, Distance (800, 1500, 3kSC, 5k, 10k) scored a combined 134 points, Hurdles (100, 110, 400) 59 points, Relays (4x100, 4x400, 4x800) 56 points, Throws (SP, HT, DT, Jav) 50 points, Jumps (HJ, TJ, LJ) 39 points, and the decathlon 8 points. 

The most impressive feats came from Princess Kara and Precious Robinson, who both not only established themselves as the top tier in the NJCAA rankings, but also broke meet records on Friday.  Princess (50.82m) surpassed former Vaquera Devia Brown (49.19m in 2019) in the discuss and currently maintains the nation's top mark.  Precious, who is standing out as the nation's top American Distance Runner, ran a 17:41.13 5k besting the former record held by yet another Vaquera Rose Tanui (17:45.13) which was set in 2009.

The following athletes ran personal bests at the region meet: Nathaniel Mark (100m, 200m), Bryce Holdridge (100m, 200m, LJ), Joel Nyatusah (110H, 200m), Jamal Cash (110H, 400H, TJ), Obinna Nwankwo (110H, 400H, Jav), Kamijah Carter (400H), Thomas Soriano (1500m), Davin Soto (5k), Benjamin Morfin (5k), Jaelan Stewart (LJ, TJ), Joshua Bowen (Dec), Olumurewa Olalere (100m), Kwanda Knight (100m, 100H), Aaliyah Bartholomew (100H), Rachel Rose (400m), Anette Carrasco Cota (800m, 1500m), Precious Robinson (1500m, 5k), Ariz Duarte (3k SC), Bella Gallo (10k), Cameron Nelson (10k), Princess Kara (Ham, Jav), Zamaree Blevins (Ham), and the M/W 4x100, M/W 4x400, and the M/W 4x800.

Those athletes that have qualified for the national meet in Texas will be competing May 11-13 and will be facing off with some of the nations top competitors.  Results from the ACCAC Region Meet can be found here.