NORCO, CA (10/28/2022) -- No. 2 San Diego Mesa College claimed the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference title at Norco College on Friday morning. Cuyamaca College finished second, San Diego City College finished third and Southwestern College finished in fourth place.
Mesa posted a team score of 17 points with a finishing order of 1-2-3-4-7-8-11. Cuyamaca had a 55 and finished 5-6-10-12-24.
Sophomore Mohussin Abakar finished the course with a time of 18:54.5 and won the race that was also run with the Inland Empire Conference. Her teammate Kyana Cooke finished second in the PCAC, third overall, with a time of 19:07.5. Mesa's Sophie Moser-Smith and Presley Bennett finished third and fourth and Cuyamaca's Jennifer McCubbin rounded out the top five.
With their third-place run, the Knights also qualified for the Southern California Regional championship for the fifth year in a row, a program record. All eight of City's runners set new personal records, including Jara who ran the 5k course at Norco College in 20:41.8, which was nine seconds faster than her previous PR. She finished in 9th place overall.
Mesa, Cuyamaca and City will head to Bakersfield College on November 4th for the CCCAA SoCal Regional.
Top 14 Finishers (All-PCAC Team)
- Mohussin Abakar (18:54.5) -- SD Mesa
- Kyana Cook (19:07.5) -- SD Mesa
- Sophie Moser-Smith (19:28.4) -- SD Mesa
- Presley Bennett (19:33.7) -- SD Mesa
- Jennifer McCubbin (19:45.2) -- Cuyamaca
- Isabel Becarra (20:08.3) -- Cuyamaca
- Madison Decker (20:30.7) -- SD Mesa
- Sidney Garcia (20:38.5) -- SD Mesa
- Diandra Jara (20:41.8) -- SD City
- Inela Diaz (21:02.8) -- Cuyamaca
- Emma Fitzgerald (21:07.7) -- SD Mesa
- Briana Gallegos (21:36.2) -- Cuyamaca
- Jackeline Reyes (21:51.1) -- SD City
- Leslie Barajas (21:57.8) -- SD City