Lady Pistols exceed expectations at Nationals
Ranked 15th in the nation heading into Saturday's NJCAA Women's Cross Country National Championships, the Ranger College women's cross country team had something to prove: They were not a 15th-ranked squad.
And they proved it.
The Lady Pistols finished 11th in the overall team standings in Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia, by delivering an outstanding performance. All seven team members achieved personal records, highlighted by a remarkable achievement from Emma Garcia.
A basketball player with no prior running experience, Garcia joined the cross-country team after conditioning with them during her basketball off-season. Recognizing her potential, Coach James Majenge invited the freshman sensation to join the team.
The invitation paid huge dividends for RC.
Garcia made history as she was first Ranger College runner to cross the finish line in the women's 5-0kilometer race. Not only was she the first RC finisher, but she also established a new school record with a mark of 19 minutes and 3.4 seconds.
Garcia's time shattered the college's previous record of 19:11 set four years ago.
Stellah Lagat and Faith Chemutai also turned on strong outings. Lagat powered her way to 55th in the women's field with a time of 19:15.6. Chemutai was 68th at 19:36.3.
In all, all five of RC's scoring runners finished in the top 95 positions. Macie Morales checked in at No. 79 with a run of 19:52.3 Myla Greenzweig and Julia Perez were 93rd and 97th, respectively, with times of 20:15.4 and 20:22.3.
The team's sixth runner, Alyssa Mabry, narrowly missed the top 100, placing 101st overall at 20:27.6. Her time was less than a second off the 100th-place mark of 20:26.6 set by Odessa College's Yvette Benavides.