Mesa Men’s Cross-Country finished the 2010 season with a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference title, and a seventh place finish at the California Community College Athletic Association Cross-Country State and Southern California Championships.
Mesa dominated the 4 mile PCAC Championships on Oct. 28 with Dylan Marx, Eddie Ramos, Deng Akuien, Aaron Thomas and Luis Medina filling the top 10 with Olympian blue and gray.
Akuien, Ramos and Medina running a tight pack formation finished 4th, 5th and 6th. Thomas followed Medina by 30.04 seconds to wind up in the number 10 spot.
Marx finished second place at Guajome County Park in Oceanside with an average 5:13 per mile to put him 34.98 seconds behind an old adversary, Southwestern College’s ground scorcher Dahir Mohamed.
Mohamed, a former runner for Hoover High School in San Diego, and Marx, a former CIF runner for Mt. Miguel High School in Spring Valley, ran head to head two years earlier at the 2008 Division II CIF Section Finals and State Qualifier. Mohamed, then a senior, won the 3.04-mile race with Marx, a junior, 49 seconds behind in 7th place.
Although history seems to have repeated itself – in a not so Mesa friendly fashion – in the realm of community college freshman cross-country runners Marx is the fastest in the PCAC, second in Southern California and fourth in the state. Couple with all the squad’s top competitors, except Sophomore Akuien, being eligible to return next year and the Olympians are looking at a possible spot in the top three at next years state championships.
Under Head Coach Thom Hunt’s six-year tenure the team has taken the PCAC title for the past five years. Before last years uncharacteristic 19th place finish at the CCCAA Cross-Country State Championships Mesa held the second place title for two consecutive years – 2007 and 2008.
Mesa Men’s Cross-Country took seventh place at the 2010 CCCAA Cross-Country State Championships Nov. 20.
Freshman Marx, taking ninth place overall, finished the 4-mile race leading the Olympian pack with a 20:34.32 finish at Woodward Park in Fresno.
Ramos, 21:02.88; Akuien, 21:05.45; Thomas, 21:36.74 and Medina, 21:50.94 finished 26th, 28th, 66th and 86th respectively to put Mesa’s total time less than three minutes behind first place San Bernadino Valley College.
Mesa College and the PCAC hosted the CCCAA Cross-Country Southern California Championships at East Mission Bay Park Nov. 6.
Like the state finals Mesa took seventh but with an almost one minute wider margin of 4:53 behind the first place powerhouse San Bernadino Valley.
Marx finished 34 seconds behind first place David Cardona of El Camino College and 27 seconds behind fourth place Mohamed in 9th with a 20:56 4-mile time.