All Entries in the "Cross Country" Category

Cross Country teams in different places

Editor’s note: on Oct. 14 the men’s cross country team reentered the rankings at No. 18

By Daniel Gaona
Photos by Ed Adams

With only two meets left in the regular season, the Pima Community College men’s and women’s cross country teams are in different places.

The men are currently unranked. Men’s and women’s head coach Greg Wenneborg said the squad needs to break into the top 15 within the next few weeks so it can go to nationals.

“In order to get ranked we need five guys under 27:30 for eight-kilometers but they haven’t done it yet,” Wenneborg said. “I still believe we can easily do that. Of those five, I’m sure that two can run under 26:30 on the right day.

“We just haven’t hit on all cylinders and keep having little setbacks,” he added. “It’s been a very bizarre season that way but they’re really close to popping a big one.”

Wenneborg said the only way to make it into the top 15 is to beat No. 20 Mesa Community College handily.

On the other hand, the women are the No. 9 team nationally but aren’t at 100 percent.

Injuries have been on and off with sophomores Julia Peerenboom and Annalisa Loevenguth. Peerenboom is still nursing a sore foot and Loevenguth has had issues with her calf.

Additionally, sophomore Magda Mankel is still waiting for her dual enrollment to be cleared.

“We really need her and we’re being as patient as we possibly can be,” Wenneborg said.

Wenneborg hopes to have everyone by the time Nationals roll around in the middle of November. He feels a complete women’s team would easily finish in the top five.

“If we get everyone eligible and healthy, this is a very dangerous team,” he said.

Pima will travel to Walnut, Calif., on Oct 15 for the Mt. SAC Invitational. Rather than the standard 5k for the women and 8k for the men, it will be three miles for the women and four miles for the men.

Wenneborg said since it’s an off-distance race the times won’t help in the rankings but the placings could.

“I think the guys and the girls could be top three finishers at this meet and that would help our rankings,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity to go out there and run fast on a course that is challenging.”

Andy Lacy

On Oct. 21, the Aztecs will have their final regular season meet at Mesa. They will return to Mesa for the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 1 Championship meets on Nov. 2.

The Aztecs traveled to Tempe to race in the Grand Canyon University Invitational on Oct. 9. The women won the meet and the men placed second behind Mesa.

Freshman standout Heidi Lopez led the way for the women finishing fourth in 19.31.98. Sophomore Priscilla Mendoza placed fifth and freshman Rachel Whitford finished sixth.

Peerenboom and Loevenguth both missed the race. Mankel was unattached and ran 19:37.77.

The men’s team had an improved showing at the meet. Wenneborg said the team made the decision to run as a pack and the top four finished within seven spots of each other.

Sophomore Mario Portillo finished seventh in 27:12.52. Sophomore Jess Montour and freshman Humberto Bravo placed ninth and 11th respectively.

The women took second while the men were fourth at the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference Championship meets on Oct. 2 in Scottsdale.

Mendoza and sophomore Julia Dittiger finished eighth and ninth respectively leading the Pima women. Freshman Andy Lacy was the top finisher for the Aztecs on the men’s side at 15th place.

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Cross Country heads to conference championship meet with issues

By Daniel Gaona
Photo courtesy PCC

Heading into one of its biggest races of the year, the Pima Community College men’s and women’s cross country teams are loaded with question marks.

The Aztecs travel to Scottsdale on Oct. 2 for the Arizona Community College Athletic Confer-ence championship meet at a time when head coach Greg Wenneborg is very nervous about both his men’s and women’s squads.

“Both sides, we’ve got big question marks,” Wenneborg said. “We’re really nervous about this meet. I think we’ll pull through as we almost always do, but we are pretty banged up.”

The men’s team has three of 11 runners dealing with injuries. Freshman Humberto Bravo turned an ankle, freshman Andy Lacy has a recurring foot injury that he sustained in high school and sophomore Mario Portillo is nursing a tender hamstring.

The women’s team is healthier but is coping with its own issues.

Sophomore Julia Peerenboom is nursing a hurt foot and sophomore Annalisa Loevenguth is dealing with a tight hamstring. At the same time, sophomore Magda Mankel is still ineligible because of dual enrollment issues but should be cleared soon.

“Today we have a hard workout so I’m going to test the waters and see how we’re doing,” Wen-neborg said Sept 27. “We need to go into the conference meet hoping for the best.”

The men’s team is not currently ranked, but Wenneborg said it’s because the Aztecs have not yet hit on all cylinders and not everyone has raced.

“We know we are stronger than we have shown so far,” he said. “Their workouts point to them being in the top 10 but everyone has to perform on race day, which is much more difficult to do than just say it.”

It is the first time in Wenneborg’s career that he has an unranked team but he remains hopeful that will change.

“We think on a good day that we can run No. 2 in the conference but we haven’t done that in a while,” he said.

The women are No. 7 and hoping to improve after the conference meet.

“All our conference teams will be there, so it will be a big opportunity to break deeper into the national rankings,” Wenneborg said.

The Aztecs will return to the Phoenix area on Oct. 9 for the Grand Canyon University Invitational.

The week after, they will travel to Walnut, Calif. for the Mt. Sac Invitational.

Pima’s last race was the Dave Murray Invitational, hosted by the University of Arizona. The re-sults were very different between the men and women.

“It was a train wreck for the guys but we had some of them out,” Wenneborg said. “On the women’s side I wasn’t happy with the way they raced but, comparing them to the rest of the con-ference, things went pretty well.”

The men place eighth overall, only ahead of Glendale Community College. They were led by sophomore Jess Montour, who placed 32nd in 23:08.56.

Pima’s women finished third behind UA and Arizona State University. Freshman Heidi Lopez finished 22nd in 19:37.94 for a strong showing, according to Wenneborg.

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Cross country teams open season in top 14

Editor’s note: the women’s team fell to No. 6 and the men fell to No. 25 in the rankings released on Sept. 15

Story and photos by Daniel Gaona

One race into the season, Pima Community College men’s and women’s cross country head coach Greg Wenneborg has mixed feelings.

The Aztecs will race for the second time this season on Sept. 17 at the Dave Murray Invitational, which is hosted by the University of Arizona.

Julia Dittiger

The event will be held at the Randolph Golf Course, 600 S. Alvernon Way. The women are scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and the men at 5:45 p.m.

Pima opened the season at the George Kyte Invitational in Flagstaff on Sept. 4. Wenneborg saw both good and bad.

The good came on the women’s side as four Aztecs finished their 5k race under 20:50. With the strong performance, the women earned the No. 5 spot in the national rankings.

“I think it was a generous ranking because some teams have not run yet but I think the girls can stay there because I think there is a lot of improvement left,” Wenneborg said. “We’ve got seven strong girls that could all potentially be a top finisher for us on any day.”

The bad came from the men’s squad, which is currently ranked 14th in the first poll of the season.

“The guys had an off day in Flagstaff,” Wenneborg said. “Luckily other teams in the conference had a little bit of an off day too.”

Wenneborg feels the men have a lot of room to improve and he’s cautiously optimistic about them.

“They’ve got a ways more to go and a little more time to put in to make it into the top 10,” he said. “We have the potential but the guys are going to need to find their heart.”

Sophomore Mario Portillo took the top spot for Pima on the men’s side in 29:10.9, although he wasn’t thrilled with finishing 36th.

“It was actually a very bad race,” Portillo said. “I was not happy with it because I was shooting for the top 20.”

He’s hoping to make up for the poor performance in the coming races.

“Training has been going good so I am hoping the next race goes better,” Portillo said. “I need my redemption because it was a horrible race.”

Freshman Andy Lacy finished two spots behind him in 29:19.4. Angel Camargo, also a freshman, placed 53rd in 30:40.8.

Portillo thinks the team will be much improved by the midpoint of the season.

“I think we’re really strong but it’s early in the season, so it’s kind of hard to tell right now,” Portillo said. “Right before regionals is when we’ll be able to tell how good we’ll be. The end of the season is when we’re supposed to be strong.

“A major goal is to do really good at nationals, top 10 as a team and top 20 individually.”

Julia Dittiger was the top Aztec on the women’s side. She placed 25th in 20:13.2, which she said was a minute better than her finishing time last year in Flagstaff.

“I ran the race about a minute faster than last year so I was excited about that,” Dittiger said. “We had been doing hill workouts and I just felt really prepared for it.”

Dittiger said the women did well because they stayed within seconds of each other. Freshman Heidi Lopez placed 27th in 20:17.1 and sophomore Annalisa Loevenguth finished 28th in 20:28.2. Twenty-three seconds later, Julia Peerenboom placed 35th.

“It makes it a lot easier to run when you’re in a pack of your own teammates,” Dittiger said. “It’s important to run as a pack because you’re stronger that way. Other runners are more intimidated by you if you’re coming by with three Pima runners at a time.”

She felt the hill workouts were essential to the solid performance at Northern Arizona University.

“They helped out quite a bit because the elevation really hits you when you’re up there,” Dittiger said. “It’s hard to run up there because the air is thinner and it makes it hard to breathe.”

“Doing hill workouts, you feel that same thing because you’re exerting your energy a lot so you just build up a bigger endurance,” she added.

Sophomore Magda Mankel ran the race unattached and placed 18th in 19:48.5. She is waiting for her dual enrollment with PCC and the UA to come through. Wenneborg hopes to have her on the roster soon.

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Cross Country teams aim to finish in top 10

Pima Community College men’s and women’s cross country head coach Greg Wenneborg is almost sure this is the year for a momentous finish.

“I think this might be the year where we go top 10 for both the men and women,” he said.

Every season Wenneborg set out with that simple goal: for both teams to finish in the top 10 at nationals. However, he’s yet to see it take place, coming into his sixth season.

The men’s team has a group of returning runners along with some solid freshmen.

“When we came into the season we had a great recruiting year for the men and we had high hopes of a very strong finish at the national meet,” Wenneborg said.

Wenneborg remains optimistic but has minimized his expectations somewhat.

“Our preseason work hasn’t been as good as we’ve hoped,” he said. “We clearly have a shot at a top 10 finish but may struggle to be any better than that.”

Sophomores Jess Montour and Mario Portillo will play big roles in leading the team.

Two key freshmen are Andy Lacy from Catalina Foothills and Humberto Bravo out of Flowing Wells. Lacy does certain runs barefoot to strengthen his feet.

“I don’t have anything expected of myself except for me to go out in the first race that we have and more or less ripping it open to see what I can do,” Lacy said. “We are definitely set to go high in the national rankings.”

The Aztecs will travel to Flagstaff to open the season at the George Kyte Invitational on Sept. 4.

The women’s team surprised Wenneborg in a sense.

“We expected to have a little bit of a down year on the women’s side,” he said. “My recruiting didn’t go as well but then all of a sudden things fell into place.”

Magda Mankel, Julia Peerenboom and Annalisa Loevenguth are vital among the returning runners along with some “serious” freshmen.

Magda Mankel, Julia Peerenboom and Annalisa Loevenguth

“The ladies went out and did their homework over the summer and showed up in very good shape,” Wenneborg said.

Peerenboom agreed that they did their homework and got their summer miles in. She also thinks the team will be strong.

“We’re going to be a hard team to beat because we have a lot of talent,” she said. “I know last year we had some really good girls that were standouts but I feel like this year all of us are together, which is really good.”

The women impressed Wenneborg during a recent time trial.

“I believe the women could be as good as any team we’ve had in the last five years,” he said. “If I compare that time trial to the previous two years’ teams and scored it as a cross country race, this team would have won.”

Online Extra: Aztecs earn Academic All-American accolades

Story and photo by James Kelley

Five Pima Community College student athletes were recognized as National Junior College Athletic Association Academic All-Americans.

Freshman Megan Carney of women’s cross country and track and field, sophomore Andrea Benjamin from women’s basketball, sophomore Gabrielle Siltanen and sophomore Lucas Volk from track and field and softball sophomore Kaity Ingram were named Academic All-Americans.

Andrea Benjamin

The prerequisites for Academic All-American are: attending at least three full-time semesters, completion of at least 45 class hours, competed for at least one season and a grade point average of at least 3.60.

Ingram and Benjamin were on the Distinguished All-American list, with a GPA of at least 3.80.

ONLINE EXTRA: 2010 Cross Country results

Photo by Daniel Gaona

Women ranked No. 9, men ranked No. 20

Sep 4 George Kyte Invitational – Buffalo Park – Flagstaff W 2nd; M 2nd
Sep 17 Dave Murray Invitational – University of Arizona – Tucson W 3rd; M 8th
Oct 2 *ACCAC Championship – Scottsdale CC – Scottsdale W 2nd; M 4th
Oct 9 Grand Canyon University Invitational Evelyn Hallman Park – Tempe W 1st M 2nd
Oct 15 Mt. SAC Invitational – Mt. SAC CC – Walnut, CA W 2nd M 5th
Oct 22 Mesa Thunderbird Classic – Mesa CC- W 3rd M 4th
Nov 5 *NJCAA Region I Championships Riverview Park- Mesa W 2nd M 4th
Nov 13 NJCAA National Championships – Spartanburg CC – Spartanburg, SC W 9th

Tucson meets in BOLD
*ACCAC conference meet

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