Salt Lake men, women sweep JUCO cross country national championships

SALT LAKE CITY — Halfway through the NJCAA Division I men's cross country national championship race at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia, Salt Lake sophomore JaQuavious Harris lost his shoe.

The sophomore from Cheraw, South Carolina, ran back, recovered his shoe, and blitzed ahead in 23 minutes, 30.7 seconds to finish first overall and lead the Bruins to their first team title in the third-year program's short history.

"He's our navigating point on this team," SLCC coach Isaac Wood said. "He just has one of the best feels for a race. That's exciting."

Michael Maiorano added a seventh-place finish in 23:49.9, and Finn Anspach was 11th for the Bruins in 23:58.2.

But what's better than one national championship, though? How about a second?

Former Davis High star Angelina Lione finished fifth in 17:30.6, and Orem freshman Alix Crawford was seventh in 17:46.1 to lift the Bruin women's program to their second national title in three years.

Salt Lake placed all five scoring runners in the top 20, with Angela Fernandez 11th in 17:51.3, Elayne Loveridge — a Mountain Ridge alumna — 13th in 17:53.4, and Naomi Sotelo 19th in 17:59.5.

"We've been going out hard and holding on as a group all year," Wood said. "The girls just run together and run for each other. That's the culture that these kids have created."

In just its third year under Wood, the Salt Lake Community College cross country program has risen to become one of the best in the nation — and it's made up with plenty of in-state talent that have often been overlooked in a state where distance running has rated among the best in the country.

Take Lione and Crawford, for example, who didn't finish in the top 30 of last year's state meet, Wood recalled. But the freshman duo excelled during the senior season's on the track, and either the Bruins took a chance on them or they took a chance on the Bruins — or both.

"I think this validates everything we've been saying since starting the program years ago: Running in Utah is the best in the country," said Wood, who also co-founded Run Elite Program with former BYU star and Olympic marathoner Jared Ward and BYU-Hawaii soccer player Landon Southwick. "I believe in our running community and culture here. If it wasn't clear here, it is now that distance running in Utah is like football in Texas — it's just what we do."

Salt Lake may not be done yet, either. They'll compete in the half marathon Tuesday with a chance to add more hardware to the trophy case back in Taylorsville.

"We've worked really hard, and it will be fun to get five fresh legs from the men and women to get their chance to win a national title," Wood said.

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