Saturday,

Central Arizona's Cross Country Teams competed at the UCR Invitational hosted by the University of California Riverside on Saturday in Riverside, CA.  The meet, which consisted of NCAA D1, NCAA D2, and a handful of two year programs, was the third meet for both the men and women teams.  

Central Arizona won the meet for the men in the open section while Fresno Pacific (NCAA D2) took top honors for the women. 

"I enjoy coming to this meet because we get to compete against some local universities from the California and New Mexico areas." State d Head Coach Jon Harmon "It's also a good opportunity for the teams to get personal bests in their distances raced."

The Vaquero's had a new frontrunner at this meet, Joel Barros. Joel toured the 8km race in 24:44.0 which was good enough to claim the individual open title and run a new personal best.  Joel's time places him as the 10th best time on the UCR course among CAC athletes.  "I'm proud of Joel for his performance today." Stated Harmon "He's come a long way from just a few months ago, his speciality is the 800 meter but now is hungry to compete in 8k's."  "Our team was placed in the open this year so I told the men that we needed to run well to remind the California Universities that we are a very competitive program."

Rounding out placing for the Vaquero's were:

Jayden Smith 24:48.20 (2nd Overall) and new personal best.

Carson Wetzel 25:03.50 (5th Overall) and new personal best.

Gabrial Escanuela 25:12.60 (10th Overall) and new personal best.

Fausto Pianciola 25:24.70 (18th Overall) and new personal best.

Justin Escanuela 25:54.80 (29th Overall) and new personal best.

Sandile Pule 26:20.30 (76th Overall) and new personal best.

Emmanuel Simiyu 26:20.30 (77th Overall) and new personal best.

Max Lopez 26:41.50 (104th Overall) and new personal best.

Micah Peynado 26:58.50 (137th Overall)

Erardo Gonzales 27:29.80 (175th Overall) and new personal best.

The Men Placed 1st overall out of 22 Teams, a total of 293 athletes competed. The Vaqueros had a 25:02 team average from 1-5 and a 41 second spread.