T-Bird Cross Country makes strides at Embry Riddle Invite

Saturday September 8, 2024 - 9:00 p.m. | Dylan DeVlieger

The No. 1 Men's and Women's NJCAA DII Cross Country program in the nation took to action on Saturday at the Embry Riddle Invite in Prescott, AZ.

Women's Cross Country:

The Lady T-Birds scored 64 points and were led by freshman Kinley Jackson took home 10th place and finished in 22:21.9. Following closely behind Jackson were five of her teammates as places 12-16 were all T-Birds.

Katie Munoz took 12th (22:36.3), Regina Raimo finished 13th (22:36.5), Marissa Hernandez came in 14th (22:36.7), Lucy Melzer took 15th (22:36.7), and Carmella Baldwin finished 16th (23:10.0).

Head coach Daniel Pescador is happy with his team's performance after coming off a challenging race a week ago at the Lori Fitzgerald Invite last Saturday. Mesa executed the game plan perfectly, sticking within the pack and finishing strong.

"We capped off a very great week stretching back to New Mexico last Saturday. We used today as a strength based training run where we wanted the groups together and gradually up the tempo throughout," said Pescador.

Men's Cross Country:

The men's team had similar success as they totaled 40 points and had five runners finish in the top 10. Mesa was led by Nick Valle who took 6th (27:49.3), followed by Cal Schnepf who came in 7th (27:52.3), Sebastian Washkevich finished 8th (5:40.4), Jorge Trujillo took home 9th (28:15.4), and Corbin Pyle finished 10th (28:20.1).

Mesa's top seven runners were again separated by just 56 seconds.

Pescador is pleased with the toughness shown by his men as they competed well even in altitude. 

"The course was very challenging along with the altitude, so it was great to mix in a hard run," said Pescador.

The T-Birds will be back in action on Sept. 21 as they will compete in the UC Riverside Invite in Riverside, CA.

Click here for the full results.