The cross country teams showed that rankings aren’t everything at the NJCAA National Championships at Rend Lake College in Ina, IL.
On the women’s side, the Aztecs came into the race ranked 12th in the national poll but finished seventh as a team. The men’s team finished in 10th place after coming into the race ranked 20th.
The women’s team finished with 238 points on the day and had three runners finish in the top 50 out of 295 runners. Jamie Shrader (Flagstaff HS) was the top finisher for the Aztecs in the 5 kilometer (3.1 mile) race. She placed 14th with a time of 19 minutes, 06.4 seconds. She ran 6:10 per mile. Nikki Regalado (Cienega HS) took 24th place with a time of 19:34.2 (6:19 per mile) and Lucia Hernandez (Tucson HS) crossed the finish line in 48th at 20:05.5 (6:29 per mile).
The men’s team finished with 319 points placing three runners in the top 75 out of 280 competitors. Tyler Stamp (Sabino HS) had the top finish for the Aztecs in the 8 kilometer (5 mile) race finishing in 19th place with a time of 26:51.8 (5:22 per mile). John Prillaman (Seymour HS) took 61st at 27:57.1 (5:35 per mile) while Aren Maxwell (Flowing Wells HS) closed out his day in 71st with a time of 28:02.5 (5:36 per mile).
