Posted: Oct 18, 2021
Riverside, CA - The San Diego Mesa Men's and Women's Cross Country Program traveled to the UCR Highlander Invite at the UCR Agriculture Course. There was mixture of predominately four year programs from Division 1, 2, 3, and NAIA competing at this meet.
Jonathan Kelly Interview
"Our athletes stepped up and competed with poise against four year competition at a longer distance and races that included large fields and fast paces", said Head Coach Sean Ricketts. "Our runners are building momentum and starting to apply their training to racing as we head into the championship phase of the season".
The Olympian Women (Ranked 6th in the State and 5th in SoCal) placed 18th out of 25 teams and 262 competitors in the 6K race lead by Sophomore Yahaira Zuniga 38th place (21:49). Zuniga was followed by Freshman Gina Queck 91st place (22:47), Sophomore Beyonce Wright 193rd place (24:37), Freshman Raegan Beckham 230th place (25:52), and Freshman Bri Ayala 250th place (27:55).
"Our athletes stepped up and competed with poise against four year competition at a longer distance and races that included large fields and fast paces", said Head Coach Sean Ricketts. "Our runners are building momentum and starting to apply their training to racing as we head into the championship phase of the season".
The Olympian Women (Ranked 6th in the State and 5th in SoCal) placed 18th out of 25 teams and 262 competitors in the 6K race lead by Sophomore Yahaira Zuniga 38th place (21:49). Zuniga was followed by Freshman Gina Queck 91st place (22:47), Sophomore Beyonce Wright 193rd place (24:37), Freshman Raegan Beckham 230th place (25:52), and Freshman Bri Ayala 250th place (27:55).
The SD Mesa Men (Ranked 2nd in the State and SoCal) placed 8th out of 26 teams and 290 competitors in the 8K race placing ahead of Embry Riddle AZ (ranked 8th in NAIA) and Division 1 programs Dixie State, UCSD, CSUN, UC Riverside, UC Irvine, New Mexico State, Eastern Washington, and others. SD Mesa was lead by Sophomore Jonathan Kelly 8th place (24:18). Kelly was followed by teammates Sophomore Esteban Magana 50th place (25:01), Freshman Devin Provence 77th place 25:28, Sophomore Franky Dolores 81st place (25:31), Freshman Juan Rosales 90th place (25:34), Freshman Jesus Villarreal 100th place 25:45, Freshman David Millan 120th place (25:55), and Freshman Bryce Kueker 124th place (25:57) all broke 26:00.
Next up, the Olympians host the PCAC XC Championships at NTC Park in Liberty Station this Friday, October 22. The Women race 5K at 10:00AM and the Men race 4 Miles at 11:00AM followed by awards at noon.