Cross Country Features Combination of Youth & Experience
- Outlook 2006
Youth and experience -those two words are probably the best to
describe the 2006 version of the Mesa men’s and women’s cross country
teams. Fans of the Mesa cross country teams will see many
new faces competing for the women’s and men’s teams while featuring
some key returnees from last year’s teams.
With so many of last year’s top performers returning on the women’s side, head coach Michelle Resendez believes this year’s team could be one of the best in school history.
Although the men will not have as high as expectations as the women
, Resendez believes the experience the young team gained will help
make this one of the best Mesa men’s cross country teams in recent memory.
“We will be extremely experienced on the women’s side,” Head Coach Michelle Resendez said. “If we stay healthy, we have the goal of being one of the top teams in the conference and region, as well as improving on our top-10 team finish in the country from last year. Although the men’s team does not have those kinds of expectations, I expect them to compete hard and I think they could surprise some people this year with some of their results.”
One reason the women are expected to be among the top teams in the country is the return of sophomore runners Jamie Benally, Diana Pacheco, Valerie Dvorak and Emily Hartman. Returning four of the seven runners from last year’s national squad, Resendez believes not only that they will be the leaders of this year’s team but strong front-runners at the national meet in November.
“These girls had an outstanding freshman year and have worked hard to continue to improve as they continue their careers,” Resendez said. “As has been the case in recent years, some of the toughest competition will come from within our own conference and region. If we can make it out of our region healthy, I predict some stellar performances at the national meet.”
In addition to the returning sophomores, a number of newcomers should also have a strong impact on the success of the 2006 women’s team as freshmen Deana Adams, Shannon Ashford, Erika Fernandez, Necole Jim, and Briana Spletstoser join sophomore returnee Tania Santamaria on this year’s
squad.
“We may be a little deeper than we have been in the past,” Resendez said. “The returning runners have worked hard and have put us in the position to compete with the top teams in the country. If all goes well, we should get back to the NJCAA championships and improve on our performance from a year ago.”
With the women’s team returning a wealth of experience in 2006; it looks as if the men’s
team will return a good amount of experience as well. Resendez hopes
that the experience gained by returnees Raymond Fain, James Galvan,
Carlet Gray, Glenn Jackson, Arturo (AJ) Jimenez, Au Nguyen, Matthew
Stowers and (returning from his church mission) Jaron Taysom will help
make the 2006 team a force.
The men suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the region meet last year when they missed qualifying for the national meet by a mere three points.
Resendez stated. “We were lacking front-runners last year and
I believe they realized it at the region meet. They will have to set
the pace for the younger runners this year and show them what it takes
to compete at this level.”
Along with the returning runners on the men’s side, newcomers
include
David Cluff, Benjamin Cordova, James Padilla, and Alexander Simonson
, all of whom are runners Resendez believes can potentially
have an immediate impact.
The Thunderbird men will have the benefit of training along side Anthony Damiani as he makes his return to Mesa. Damiani competed for the T-birds in cross country in 1999 and 2000. He will be training with the team in preparation for the NJCAA Half Marathon Championships in Wichita, Kansas on November 19.
“He (Damiani) hasn’t stopped training since his stint five-plus years ago,” Resendez said. “We’ve had the good fortune of watching him train and he’s
been improving steadily over the years.
An advantage for the Mesa cross country teams this season is that,
besides with hosting the second annual Mesa Thunderbird Cross Country
Classic on September 22-23, the school will host the this year’s
ACCAC Conference Cross Country Championships on September 29.
The conference meet will mark the first time in the season that all
of the conference institutions will all meet at once. The rival cross
country teams will converge at Mesa’s home course at Riverview
Park.
“It is one of the only courses in the country where fans will have an opportunity to see the entire race without moving from a particular spot,” Resendez said.
The region meet will be held at Kiwanis Park on Friday, October 27. At the event, the top five teams on the men’s and women’s side will advance to the NJCAA Cross Country Championships in El Paso, Texas on November 4.
“We run in an extremely tough conference and region,” Resendez said. “However, after seeing how hard everybody on the two teams have worked over the summer, I believe we will be able to compete and improve on last year’s standings and qualify a full men’s and women’s squad to the National meet, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished since 1996.”
