(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College women’s track & field team captured its first NJCAA Region I Team Championship since 1996 on Thursday at Mesa Community College.
The Aztecs finished with a team score of 285. Central Arizona College took second place with 232 while Mesa Community College placed third with 157. Glendale Community College (49 points) and Paradise Valley community College (35) rounded out the field.
The Aztecs took home four individual championships. Sophomore Eliza Littlewood (Campo Verde HS) was named the Region I Athlete of the Meet after she scored 42 points for the Aztecs. She won the Heptathlon with a total of 3734 points She also claimed the Triple Jump title with a mark of 10.74 meters (35-feet, 3-inches). Littlewood also took second place in the High Jump at 1.48 meters (4-10).
Freshman Dominique Acosta (Nogales HS) won the High Jump with a mark of 1.63 meters (5-4). Sophomore Raelynn Fair (South Mountain HS) won the Long Jump event on Tuesday. Pima head coach Chad Harrison said this was the first time in his 13 years at Pima that the women and men have swept the jumps at Regionals.
Fair finished with a total of 31 points. In Thursday’s events, she took second in the 200 meters with a time of 25.78 seconds. She also placed third in the Triple Jump at 10.51 meters (34-6).
Freshman thrower Lucy Chavez (Bisbee HS) was second in the Shot Put with a mark of 12.71 meters (41-8) and took third place in the Discus at 38.98 meters (127-9).
Freshman Cyndasia Miles was second in the Triple Jump with a best-mark of 10.70 meters (35-1) and third in the High Jump at 1.48 meters (4-10).
The 4×100 relay team of freshman Haylee McLeod (Campo Verde HS), Fair, sophomore Masaada Johnson (Wickenburg HS) and Littlewood placed second with a time of 48.84. The 4×400 relay team of McLeod freshman Alyssa Parton (Sabino HS), freshman Marissa Lopez (Sahuarita HS) and freshman Nyah Torres (Millennium HS) also took second place with a time of 4:14.60.
Freshman Fatmata Conteh (Glendale HS) earned two 3rd place finishes in the hurdle events. She finished the 100-meter hurdles with a time of 15.71 seconds and the 400 meter hurdles at 1:10.06.
Coach’s Quote: “The women scored 285 points and I’m 99 percent sure, that’s the most in school history,” Pima track & field coach Chad Harrison said. “We had a lot of individual gutsy performances. The jumpers kept us consistent and dominated. We had four women sprinters in every final. The throwers were an area of concern but they dominated. Lucy Chavez, Victoria Malaki and Jessica Bright Schade all scored. The coaching staff got them to PR at the right time. It was just a collected energy and effort across the board. The 29 points in the hepathlon was a big deal and we wouldn’t have won without it. The kids are fighters and they believed in the process.”
Other Pima finishes and points scored at Thursday’s Region I Championships:
Victoria Malaki (Dobson HS) – 4th in Discus (38.20 meters) 5 points; 7th in Shot Put (9.96 meters) 2 points
Masaada Johnson (Wickenburg HS) – 4th in Triple Jump (10.16 meters) 5 points; 5th in High Jump (1.33 meters) 4 points; 6th in 100 meters (12.81) 3 points
Akira Jones (Saint David HS) – 4th in Shot Put (11.02 meters) 5 points; 7th in Discus (33.32 meters) 2 points
Haylee McLeod (Campo Verde HS) – 4th in 200 meters (26.49) 5 points; 4th in 400 meters (1:02.32) 5 points; 7th in 100 meters (12.88) 2 points
Ayanna Valles (Marana HS) – 4th in 100 meter hurdles (16.89) 5 points; 6th in 400 meter hurdles (1:21.03) 3 points
Raelynn Fair (South Mountain HS) – 4th in 100 meters (12.71) 5 points
Alyssa Parton (Sabino HS) – 5th in 400 meters (1:02.53) 4 points; 7th in 200 meters (28.10) 2 points
Marissa Lopez (Sahuarita HS) – 5th in 1,500 meters (5:07.05) 5 points; 6th in 800 meters (2:31.15) 3 points
Jessica Bright-Schade (Safford HS) – 5th in 100 meter hurdles (18.98) 4 points; 7th in 400 meter hurdles (1:24.30) 2 points
Madison Warren – 5th in 400 meter hurdles (1:20.73) 4 points; 6th in 100 meter hurdles (19.94) 3 points; 7th in 400 meters (1:07.23) 2 points
Corteaja Andrews (Betty Fairfax HS) – 6th in 200 meters (27.67) 3 points; 6th in 400 meters (1:03.92) 3 points;
Fatmata Conteh (Glendale HS) – 8th in 100 meters (13.18) 1 point
Nyah Torres (Millennium HS) – 8th in 800 meters (2:42.51) 1 point
Mykayla Tarwater (Tucson Magnet HS) – 8th in 5,000 meters (22:26.30) 1 point
Press Release courtesy of Pima Athletics – Raymond Suarez