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.

2010 Pima Graduation Ceremony

Former Pima coach Roderick Gary named men’s head basketball coach

Former Pima, USA Baseball and Foothills coach Jason Hisey named head baseball coach

Men’s soccer holding tryouts July 5 and July 7

Aztecs earn Academic All-American accolades

Three softball players selected to All-American teams

Japanese Speech Contest, Aikido and Anime Club Videos

Women’s track & field takes 13th at Nationals, the men finish 17th

Video of baseball coach’s last home game

Men’s golf team finishes 18th at Nationals

Two women’s golfers finish in top 42 at Nationals

Living the Dream: Pima Fashion Show video

Both track & field teams finish third at Regionals

Chloe' Nowell

Men’s tennis finishes 19th at Nationals

Women’s tennis finishes 19th at Nationals

Men’s basketball coach Karl Pieroway steps down, again

Yavapai finishes off softball

Softball bounces back, advances to Semifinals

Softball upset by bottom seed

The Pima Community College track and field teams both finished in the top 17 at the National Junior College Athletic Association National Championship and had10 top-eight finishes, breaking records in the process.

The Aztec women finished 13th with 17 points, while the men finished 17th with 11.25 points. The meet was held in Hutchinson, Kan.

Sophomore Sharissa Korn placed fourth in the javelin with a throw of 135’ 9”. Freshman Kat Howard finished fifth in the 10,000-meters, but more notably in a new school record time of 38:18.8.

The men’s 4×400-meter relay team of sophomore Stephan Bullard, freshman Derick Coker, sophomore Chris Phillips and freshman Mathew Robertson finished fifth in 3:15.5. On his own, Bullard finished sixth in the 800-meter in 1:54.1.

Stephan Bullard

Sophomore Jessica Davis took fifth in the shot put, by putting up a score of 40’ 2”.

Freshman Christian Tover earned Pima’s first points of the meet, going 160 feet with a personal record in the hammer throw and finishing sixth. Freshman Chloe’ Nowell leaped her way to a seventh place finish in the triple jump, (36’ 7”).

Freshman Magda Mankel earned seventh place in the 1,500-meter, in a time of 5:04.6.

Sophomore Kyle Bush was 8th in the 1,500-meter in 4:11.6. Freshman Anthony Johnson, was also an eighth place finisher, in the high jump, with a best of 6’8.75”.

Pima sent 24 athletes in 21 events.

The Pima Community College track and field teams finished third at the National Junior College Athletic Association Region I Championships.

Three Aztecs won region titles and four more qualified for Nationals.

Freshman Chloe’ Nowell CQ, triple jump, freshman Mario Portillo, 5,000-meter, and freshman Christian Tover, shot put, were crowned champions.

Nowell won the triple jump with a leap of 36’7”, Portillo won the 5,000 with a time of 15:51 and Tover won the shot put with a mark of 51’8”.

Chloe' Nowell

The new Pima qualifiers for Nationals are sophomore Kyle Bush in the 1,500-meter, freshman Derrick Coker in the 200 meter, freshman Magda Mankel in the 1,500-meter; and Nowell in the high jump.

The men’s 4×400 team finished in third place but broke a school record they had set earlier in the season. Sophomore Stephan Bullard, Coker, sophomore Nathan Manigault and sophomore Chris Phillips ran a 3:13.26.

Pima qualified 24 in 21 events for the NJCAA National Championship meet in Hutchinson, Kansas, May 20-22.

Nationals Qualifiers
Women
1. Acosta Zavala, Kathy 400-Meter Hurdles
2. Bishop, Brittany Pole Vault
3. Davis, Jessica Hammer
4. Dittiger, Julia 3,000-Meter Steeplechase
5. Dorado, Ashley 400-Meter Hurdles
6. Howard, Kat 5,000-Meters, 10,000-Meters
7. Korn, Sharissa Javelin
8. Loevenguth, Annalisa 1,500-Meters
9. Mankel, Magda 1,500-Meters, 5,000-Meters
10. Montano, Stephanie Pole Vault
11. Nowell, Chloe Heptathlon, Triple Jump, High Jump

Men
1. Bullard, Stephan 800-Meters
2. Bush Kyle 1,500-Meters
3. Coker, Derrick 4×100-Meter Relay, 200-Meters
4. Johnson, Anthony High Jump
5. Manigault, Nathan 4×100-Meter Relay
6. McIver, Daniel High Jump
7. Moeykens, Dylan Decathlon
8. Phillips, Chris 4×100-Meter Relay, 4×400-Meter Relay
9. Portillo, Mario 5,000-Meters
10. Robertson, Matthew 4×100-Meter Relay, 4×400-Meter Relay
11. Scarber, Frederick High Jump
12. Thomas, Antoine 4×100-Meter Relay
13. Tovar, Christian Hammer, Shot Put

For the Pima Community College men’s and women’s track and field teams, regionals and nationals are nothing like ordinary meets.

Pima will travel to Mesa Community College on May 11 and 13 for the Region 1 Championships. Head coach Greg Wenneborg wants either the men or the women to be runners-up at regionals.

“Our goal is to get the upset,” he said. “Right now we’d probably take third or fourth at the region meet but we want to get runner-up.”

The teams are fully aware of what they need to do to bring home the hardware.

“We want to take a trophy home and everyone is going to have to do their part in order for that to happen,” Wenneborg said.

He also said the confidence level is high heading into the meet. Wenneborg feels that the team is set for a breakout meet and that it would surprise other teams because on paper it doesn’t look like Pima has a shot.

“Looking at the entries and looking at how our team is doing right now I think we could steal either a men’s or women’s second place finish,” Wenneborg said.

“The upside potential for the regional and national meet is so great and we’re just really excited for everyone.”

However, there is still some anxiety on the team.

“We’re a little nervous right now because there are sometimes downside potential and there are bad days,” Wenneborg said about regionals. “But right now I think we are poised to have a good meet.”

The biggest success factor through the whole season has been the depth and widespread talent for the Aztecs. It isn’t just a few events in which Pima is a contender.

“The thing I am so impressed right now is that we have such depth across the whole team,” Wenneborg said. “We’ve got our jumps crew in order, we’ve got our sprints crew in order, we’ve got our distances clicking right now and our throws are going to be a big surprise for us and score some huge points.”

Shortly after the regional meet, those on the team who qualified will head to Hutchinson, Kan. for the National Junior College Athletic Association Championships on May 20-22.

Middle distance runner Stephan Bullard and javelin thrower Sharissa Korn will be the top two Aztecs to watch during the upcoming meets. Both are legitamate contenders for NJCAA titles.

Bullard is currently the national No. 3 800-meter runner on the men’s side and his season best was 1:52.65.

“He has had some great workouts recently and I think as usual we expect him to go for a national title,” Wenneborg said. “He has a great shot because he is sharpening very well right now.’

Korn is the No. 2 female javelin thrower in the NJCAA with a best of 139 feet, 2 inches. Wenneborg thinks she can break the school record, which is 142-4, and win the regional and national titles.

Other athletes to watch include sprinter Derrick Coker and Kat Howard, who are both freshmen.

Coker ran the 100-meter dash in 10.70 but he needs a 10.69 to qualify for nationals.

Howard is the No. 6 5,000-meter runner and the No. 5 10,000-meter runner in the NJCAA.

“She is a machine,” Wenneborg said about Howard. “She improves every time she steps on the track.”

In field events on the men’s side Christian Tovar is a threat in multiple throwing events. He is No. 11 in shot put and No. 9 in the hammer throw. Wenneborg expects him to be a “big force” in both events.

Anthony Johnson should stand out in the high jumps. He is currently No. 11 in the country and Wenneborg said he’s clearing close to 7-0 at practice.

Both the 4×100 and 4×400 relay squads are ranked nationally. The 4×100 is No. 16 and the 4×400 team is No. 10. Chris Phillips and Matthew Robertson are on both of the relay crews.

Matthew Robertson and Chris Phillips

Chloe’ Nowell placed third at the Region 1 multiple-events meet on May 3-4. Her point total of 3,695 puts her at No. 10 in the nation and qualifies her for nationals in the heptathlon. She had already qualified in the triple jump as well.

On the men’s side, Dylan Moeykens is ranked 10th in the decathlon with 5,673 points.

Visit AztecPressOnline.com for updates and results.

Track and Field national qualifiers as of May 6
Men
Stephan Bullard
Derrick Coker
Anthony Johnson
Nathan Manigault
Daniel McIver
Dylan Moeykens
Chris Phillips
Mario Portillo
Matthew Robertson
Frederick Scarber
Antoine Thomas
Christian Tovar
Women
Kathy Acosta
Brittany Bishop
Jessica Davis
Julia Dittiger
Ashley Dorado
Kat Howard
Sharissa Korn
Annalisa Loevenguth
Magda Mankel
Stephanie Montano
Chloe’ Nowell

When Sharissa Korn travels to Kansas later this month for the National Junior College Athletic Association Championships, she hopes to follow in her brother’s footsteps and bring home a national trophy.

Jeremiah Korn, Sharissa’s older brother and roommate, won the shot put title two years ago.

“I’m very excited,” Sharissa Korn said. “Just to have the opportunity is pretty awesome.”

As a sophomore, Korn is currently the nation’s No. 2 female community college javelin thrower. Colleen Felix from South Plains is the top thrower with a best of 146 feet, only 6 feet, 8 inches farther than Korn’s top throw this year.

“I don’t really know anything about her but I’ve seen her marks and they are impressive,” Korn said about Felix. “I just have to stay focused and have fun. There is really no point in doing a sport if you don’t have fun.”

The surprise is that Korn has been throwing the javelin for just two years because high schools in Arizona don’t offer it as an event. Last year was her first year and she immediately connected.

“It’s by far my favorite event,” she said. “I haven’t been throwing for long, but it’s by far my best event.”

Sharissa Korn

Korn’s athleticism and work ethic can be attributed to her athletic family. Jeremiah has helped guide her this season, providing his sister with insights about nutrition, training and weight lifting to help her compete at the highest level.

“He is very supportive,” she said about her brother. “We are both pretty level-headed, but he’s been making sure I’m getting into the weight room and eating right.”

Korn competes in all of the throwing events but javelin is the only event in which she qualified for nationals. She isn’t too concerned about shot put, discus or hammer throw.

“I’m just average at those other events,” she said. “I’m trying to focus on javelin and improving my techniques at this point. I just want to get into the weight room and improve my throws.”

Her talents have garnered national attention and she has recently received a few scholarship offers. She said the recruiting process has gone well, and she is looking at schools in Colorado and Kansas.

Come May 20, in addition to repeating her family history, Korn will also try to keep a streak alive for the track and field team. Pima has produced at least one national champion in each of the last three years.

Sharissa Korn

Field events are new additions to the strong points of the Pima Community College men’s and women’s track and field teams, with two regular season meets left.

Running events remain solid for the Aztecs, but the field events are beginning to gain national attention.

Pima will travel to the UCSD Triton Invitational in San Diego April 23-24, then to Glendale Community College on May 1. Beyond that are the regional and national championships.

Stephan Bullard is confident heading into the latter part of the season. He is hoping to run a 47.8 in the open 400-meter dash at the Triton Invitational. He also wants his team to run a 3:12 in the 4×400 relay and break the school record once again.

“I need to crank down on speeds and I have my competition scoped out and everything,” Bullard said. “I mentally know what I have to do, now I just have to do it physically with the speed work.”

Stephan Bullard

Off the track, head coach Greg Wenneborg is enthusiastic about the throwing staff.

“We have a lean crew, but three of them are going to the national championships with solid marks,” Wenneborg said about the throwers.

Sharissa Korn is currently the No. 2 athlete in the women’s javelin. Since qualifying for nationals earlier this season, she has continued to better herself each meet.

“I’ve just worked out really hard and have been training really hard and being strict with myself,” Korn said. “It’s a good feeling because all that is finally paying off.”

Korn plans on working on her form a lot more, which she said would make a big difference.

“I have to work on my form more because I’m using mostly just muscles right now and my form is pretty bad,” she said. “Once I get my form in that click, it will be good.”

She won the event at Mesa Community College on April 16. Her 139 foot, 2-1/2 inch toss bumped her up to second place nationally.

“I think she is a contender now,” Wenneborg said about Korn. “Just like that, she became a threat to win a national title.”

Her cohort Jessica Davis recently qualified for the women’s hammer throw, but she is still in search of more. Davis placed third in the hammer throw at Mesa with a 138-10 toss.

“I still have to qualify in discus and then shot put is after that,” Davis said. “I just have to get my throws perfect. I’ve done it before but when it comes to meet time, I can’t get it right. It’s just something for me to work on.”

Christian Tovar already qualified for shot put at nationals and he did not compete in it at Mesa. However, he placed third in the hammer throw.

Zach Dunbar, who splits his time between track and football, is hoping to qualify for the men’s javelin. He threw 169-1 earlier this season, which is about 15 feet shy of the qualifying mark.
Wenneborg also continues to be impressed by the jumpers.

“Jumps have never been a factor for us in the last five years and now they’re turning out to be another strong suit for us,” Wenneborg said.

At the conference meet on April 16, four Aztecs finished in the top nine spots of the long jump while three placed in the top four of the high jump.

Devin Phillips jumped 23-3-1/2 to win the long jump and Frederick Scarber cleared 6-6-3/4 in the high jump to place second.

On the women’s side, Chloe’ Nowell won the triple jump with a 36-4-1/2 jump and Gabby Siltanen won the high jump with a 5-1 leap.

Hector Araujo won the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 10:12.

Wenneborg think the team still has more athletes to qualify.

“We’re really deep and wide right now and we are very excited to have 20 student-athletes to the national championships and I think we are still going to get another five or six,” Wenneborg said.

The coach expects the women’s 4×800 relay squad to qualify and Magda Mankel to secure a spot in the 1,500 and 5,000-meter runs.

Some athletes on the men’s side who are likely to qualify soon are Derrick Coker and Chris Phillips in sprints and Kyle Bush in distance.

Coker had personal bests in the 100-meter dash, 10.70, and 200-meter dash, 21.76, at the Mesa meet. Both of his times were within one second of the mark.

Phillips is pushing to qualify in the 400-meter dash.

He is within half a second and has a spot in the 4×400 team that is qualified for nationals.

Bush ran the 1,500 at Mesa in 4:07.43.

That time was seven seconds over the qualifying mark.

After exploding in all aspects, the Pima Community College track and field teams suffered a minor downfall.

However, head coach Greg Wenneborg thinks the bumpy patch the teams hit is over.

“We hit a little bit of a plateau but we came out of it at the end of the last meet,” Wenneborg said. “We had about five people achieve lifetime-best marks.”

Among those athletes were Jessica Davis, who came within two feet of qualifying for Nationals in the hammer throw, and Kyle Bush, who ran the 800-meter in 1:56.02 to come within a second of standard.

Pima will travel to Mesa Community College April 9 and 16. The April 16 meet will be the season’s third conference meet.

“We have three weeks in a row where we have awesome opportunities in night time meets with good competition,” Wenneborg said. “It’s about 10 degrees cooler and you don’t have the winds. It’s better conditions for good performances all around.”

The Aztecs are coming off back-to-back meets at Paradise Valley Community College.

Thrower Christian Tovar may have been the most impressive performer. On March 27, he threw the shotput 49 feet, 11 3/4 inches to lock up his second spot at Nationals.

Christian Tovar

“I just feel like I did what I was supposed to do,” Tovar said. “It took hundreds and hundreds of reps. I tried to keep track but I couldn’t so who knows. It just took a lot of technical stuff I had to get done in the ring and I still have to.”

He also said that it will be his first time riding an airplane when the team travels to Hutchinson, Kansas, in May.

“I’m just a little nervous,” he added. “I’m more nervous about that than competing because that will be fun. I’m ready to compete.”

Wenneborg feels the team overcame its struggles and should be ready to prosper again.

“Our first goal is to achieve lifetime-best marks for all athletes and after that we are looking for National qualifying marks,” he said.

Wenneborg shifted to sharpening mode after the mid-season point passed. The regiment focuses more on quality instead of quantity.

“Everyone has started to sharpen,” he said. “We’ve shortened our weekly mileage and we’ve decreased our weekly volume. That way we are sharpening it.”

He is still confident that at least 25 athletes will qualify for Nationals. Currently there are 18.

“Just on the distance side alone I think we’ve got three or four athletes who are poised to hit qualifying marks,” Wenneborg said.

Overall the team has been successful but Wenneborg still feels it is early.

“Jumps have been strong and will continue to be strong for us and our sprints are coming together,” Wenneborg said. “I believe the men’s 4×400 relay team could set the school record two or three more times before the season is over.”

Stephan Bullard will be running at the Sun Angel Meet at Arizona State University while the remainder of the team is at Mesa. He is the No. 2 800-meter runner nationally.

“It’s looking like we are going to sharpen well in the next couple of weeks and be ready for a big Region and National Championships,” Wenneborg said.

“We’re pretty much halfway through the season and now we go into this stretch with meets every weekend,” head coach Greg Wenneborg said. “We’re shooting all the way through to the end of April for big performances.”

After completing only three meets, the teams have a combined 15 athletes qualified for Nationals in 11 events.

“We’re right on pace, or actually we’re ahead,” Wenneborg said. “I remember previous seasons at Willie Williams when we would have two or three qualifiers at most.”

Wenneborg expects to have at least 25 athletes qualified by the end of the season. By early April, he thinks about five more should qualify.

“I believe last year we brought 22 (athletes) and we are way ahead of pace right now,” he added. “I think we’ll have 25 to 30 this year. Everything just has to come together smooth.”

Pima will travel to Paradise Valley Community College on March 27 for the second conference meet of the season and returns there April 1-3 for the Paradise Valley Invitational.
“There have been some great performances but now we are pushing through to Paradise Valley and hoping to come up big there,” Wenneborg said.

He feels that Pima has been all about quality this year.

“Even though our women’s team is lean in numbers, everything is going very well,” he said. “With the men we are definitely ahead of previous years in talent and the array of events that we have.”
The women’s team has five different athletes in six events qualified for Nationals.

Distance runner Kat Howard has locked up spots in the 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs. She placed second in the 5,000 in 18:47.21 at the conference meet hosted by Pima on March 13 and clinched a spot in the 10,000 at Central Arizona College on Feb. 20 with a time of 39:21.28.

“We’ve had a lot of good practices and a lot of good training,” Howard said. “We put in a lot of miles before the season started and I think that’s helped a lot. It will be interesting to be able to run in more than one event.”

Ashley Dorado will be competing in the 400 hurdles at Nationals. She ran her event in 1:08.82 at the Willie Williams Classic, hosted by the University of Arizona on March 19-20. She was injured in the meet but is expected to recover.

Chloe’ Nowell had a distance of 37 feet, 7 3/4 inches in the triple jump at the March 13 meet to secure a spot at Nationals.

“The second I landed I kind of knew it was a qualifying jump and it was a personal record by like a foot and a half almost,” she said about her jump.

She is planning on doing the heptathlon too and credits jumping coach Chad Harrison for her success.

“Chad has helped me out a lot and he’s gotten me a lot faster,” Nowell said. “Listening to his coaching has made me jump a lot further. I’m really excited to be doing eight events at the National Championships.”
Brittany Bishop will be doing pole vault. She cleared 10-0 at the Willie Williams.

Sharissa Korn is the only thrower locked in for Nationals right now but Jessica Davis is also likely to qualify in shot put and discus. Korn threw 123-10 in the javelin at the Willie Williams to set a new personal best. She ranks third nationally.

Mallory Drain and Stephanie Montano are both dual-enrollees and have been competing as unattached athletes. However, they both have hit qualifying marks.

On the men’s side, there are two relay teams and four individuals set to make the trip to Kansas for Nationals.

Daniel McIver

The Pima men’s 4×400 relay team broke a nine-year-old school record at the Willie Williams meet.

The squad of Matthew Robertson, Stephan Bullard, Phillip Hobart and Chris Phillips placed second behind Central Arizona in 3:14.46.

However, the Aztecs beat the Vaqueros in the 4×400 on March 13 in 3:16.14 to qualify.

“I looked up at the time and I knew that I had to run a 47 or under so we could break the record,” Phillips said. “That’s what I did and it was a personal record for me. I like the team that I have and I couldn’t have done it without them. I knew I had to anchor it in. The show isn’t over.”

Both Bullard and Phillip will each have a separate individual event as well.

Bullard, who just signed a letter of intent to University of Oklahoma, will be running the 800-meter dash. He won the event on March 13 in 1:53.07.

“I’m feeling pretty comfortable about my 800,” Bullard said. “I just signed with the Oklahoma Sooners, which is a big thing. It makes me relax and focus on running fast.”

Phillips will be running the 400. He won the race overall at the Willie Williams in 48.94. Wenneborg called Phillips “a great anchor for the 4×400.”

Daniel McIver and Frederick Scarber were battling to win the high jump at the Pima meet and in doing so both qualified for Nationals. They ended up tying at 6-6 3/4. Scarber matched that height at the Willie Williams to place second.

Christian Tovar secured a spot in the hammer throw with a 159-8 toss. He is less than one meter from qualifying for shot put as well.

The speedy 4×100 team is the other relay team that qualified. Antoine Thomas, Nathan Manigault, Robertson and Derrick Coker ran the race in 41.53 on March 13.

Wenneborg was impressed with not only Pima’s talent in the first conference meet of the season on March 13, but also the overall talent.

“Of all schools there were 45 qualifiers, so it was a very competitive meet,” he said.

Wenneborg is also aware that the team can’t let up or experience a downfall, especially at the end of the season.

“We’ll be doing more sharpening work in the coming weeks,” Wenneborg said on March 22. “We push a little bit hard so we can continue to push our peak pack because we want kids peaking in May when it counts.”
“You can’t always be on an upward swing and there are times when your performances level off a little,” he added.

National Qualifiers
Women
Chloe’ Nowell- Triple jump
Sharissa Korn- Javelin
Brittany Bishop- Pole vault
Kat Howard- 5,000-meter and 10,000-meter runs
Ashley Dorado- 400 hurdles
Men
Stephan Bullard- 800-meter dash
Chris Phillips- 400-meter dash
Christian Tovar- Hammer throw
Daniel McIver- High jump
Frederick Scarber- High jump
Antoine Thomas, Nathan Manigualt,
Matthew Robertson, Derrick Coker- 4×100 relay
Phillip Hobart, Bullard,
Robertson, Phillips- 4×400 relay

The Pima Community College men’s and women’s track and field teams host the first Arizona Community College Athletic Conference meet of the season on March 13.

It is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. and run until the early evening at the West Campus track.