Friday,

Central Arizona's Cross Country Teams competed at the Southern Showcase hosted by Jacksonville State University on Saturday in Huntsville, AL.  The meet, which consisted of NCAA D1, NCAA D2, and a handful of two year programs, was the second meet for both the men and women teams.  

Alabama won the meet for the men while Louisville took top honors for the women.  Alabama's Men are ranked 11th in nation for NCAA D1 and the Louisville Women are unranked but beat 9th ranked Alabama.

"It's very humbling to come to this meet and compete against a lot of major universities in the south"  Stated Head Coach Jon Harmon.  "We wanted to get an opportunity to compete on grass and race on tired legs from the travel, it was a good learning expereince for the teams."

The Vaquero's were once again led by Sophomore Jayden Smith, who toured the 8km race in 25:22.86 which was good enough for 135th overall.  Jayden's time places him as the 3rd best time on the Southern Showcase course among CAC athletes.  "I'm proud of Jayden for his performance today." Stated Harmon "I'm also quite happy for the freshmen who made the trip and were able to compete in their first 8k."  "We have a lot of growing to do but we will do so together as a team."

Rounding out placing for the Vaquero's were:

Gabrial Escanuela 25:51.46 (181st Overall) 6th Best Time on the Southern Showcase course among CAC Athletes

Micah Peynando 26:38.26 (281st Overall) 10th Best Time on the Southern Showcase course among CAC Athletes

Sandile Pule 26:39.52 (286th Overall) 

Fausto Pianciola 26:42.54 (291st Overall) 

Max Lopez 27:05.54 (312th Overall)

Emmanuel Simiyu 29:59.96 (419th Overall)

The Men Placed 34th overall out of 50 Teams, a total of 460 athletes competed. The Vaqueros had a 26:14 team average from 1-5 and a 1:19 second spread.