Women runners finish third;
men stride to ninth in Classic
Steve Emmick
Mesa Legend

Photo courtesy of Coach Clyde Resendez

Nathan Ostler runs in the Canyon West Classic Oct. 18 at Kiwanis Park in Tempe. This was the final meet before the cross country team competes in the NJCAA Region 1 championships.

“Man I love the smell of mass competition in the morning,” Pete Morrissy, of a competing school, said as he pulled himself up from his calf stretch.
It was an early morning for the men and women of the MCC cross country team as they sat underneath their MCC banner, planning their strategy for the Canyon West Classic on Oct. 18 at Kiwanis Park.
Of the eight competing schools, coach Clyde Resendez stated, “New Mexico Community College poses the greatest challenge, but we expect to run a pretty good race.”
Paradise Valley won the men’s meet overall, and took second in women’s. The Thunderbirds men’s team did not do as well as they hoped, finishing ninth overall.
The women ran a good race overall. They finished third.
Yavapai College claimed the first place spot.
The course at Kiwanis was not as “easy flowing” as it seemed. The simple trail that surrounded the park’s lake was only for the everyday runners up for their short morning exercise. The competition trailwas much different, much more complicated and much more strenuous.
The first to run were the women. The course for the women was the same as for the men. However, the women would run a shorter 5k to the men’s 8k.
The race began at 7:30 a.m. Resendez, who comfortably maneuvered himself around the course on his bike, rounded up the women racers at the starting line where each team was systematically lined up, anticipating their fresh burst of sprint.
Crowds of parents, friends and other interested passers-by gathered at the starting line with obvious anticipation, to catch the runners from different schools compete with one another.
The starting gun went off and so did the women. The crowd followed the runners waiting to catch a glimpse of who was ahead of whom.
The first to finish for Mesa was Chloe Youngblume, the school’s hot foot, finishing with a time of 19:27. This put her at fourth place overall. Kate Forkner was close behind, finishing second for Mesa at 19:41, ninth place overall. Finishing third, neck-and-neck, were Marissa Reyez and Kate Bradford with a time of 20:25.
“I try to beat my time every week,” said an out-of-breath Amy King, one of the many finishers who successfully finished the race for the Mesa women. “The course was tough and those hills are not easy, but my goal today was to beat one girl I try to beat every race – she runs for SCC.”
“I finished my previous run in 26 minutes and 17.3 seconds, so that’s the time I’m going to try and beat today,” remarked Mesa’s hopeful Nathan Ostler as he finished his stretch in preparation for the run.
The men lined up at the starting line the same as the women and the crowd once again gathered the same as they did before. The starting gun sounded and packs of runners merged together like frightened cattle.
Finishing first for the Mesa men was, Nathan Ostler, who unfortunately was unable to shave off the 14 seconds he needed to beat his old time. Ostler sped in at 26:30. This time put him at tenth place overall. Behind him finished Jaron Tayson, with a time of 27:23, and finishing third was Ryan Rudd with a time of 29:29. Between each pant Tayson was able to spit out the words, “If you can overcome the hills, you can overcome the race.”

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