Trujillo leads T-Bird men at UC Riverside Invite

Sunday September 22, 2024 - 3:30 p.m. | Dylan DeVlieger

The Mesa College women's and men's teams competed at the prestigious UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday in beautiful conditions amongst many outstanding collegiate teams (NCAA, NAIA, NJCAA at all Divisional levels) in the western USA.

The T-Birds men's team finished 8th overall, losing to only one other community college program in the field (Moorpark College, CA 4th overall). There were 33 teams entered and 297 athletes competed. See

Results HERE.

8k Course:

Leading the way for the T-Birds was Jorge Trujillo, finishing 16th overall with a time of 25:15, followed by Nick Valle, personal best time of 25:22 (24th overall), Sebastian Washkevich, personal best time of 26:05 (92nd overall), Corbin Pyle, time of 26:29 (132nd overall), Caden Hardison, personal best time of 26:30 (135th overall), Parker Stoft, 26:39 (153rd overall), Kai Robinson, time of 26:46 (171st overall), Alex Lopez, personal best time of 26:49 (176th overall), Benett Kaup, 27:15 (201st overall), Quenton Metz, 27:28 (215th overall), Cal Schnepf, 28:04 (234th overall), and Gabe Gonzales, 28:16 (246th overall).

The men had a split time between their No. 1 runner and No. 5 runner (1:15), and the split time between their No. 1 runner and their No. 7 runner (1:31).

The men's team got their first real glance at a large field of athletes, how to race, and battle for position. The team learned a lot from this meet and will use this experience as a lesson on how to further improve as the season moves closer to the National meet on Nov. 9. 

Having trained through this meet over the last two weeks is a clear demonstration of the potential the team has at Nationals. The team is focused on improving week to week and peaking for Nationals, this meet checked all the boxes towards the goal of being among the top three teams in the USA.

Next up for the T-Birds men's team is the ACCAC Conference Meet Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 at Heroes Park in Glendale, AZ.

Click here to view the 2024 season photo gallery.