Huntsville, Ala. – The Coconino Comet Women’s Cross Country team finished 17th place at the 2023 DII NJCAA Cross Country National Championships, with 5 women running season best times.
Led by Breana Biggambler with a 71st place finish, the Comets scored 540 points, the same score awarded to Calhoun Community College, but thankfully the Coconino women won the head-to-head tiebreaker to finish 17th as a team. This was the second time in the program’s 3 seasons that the women have placed in the top 20 at the national championship. Coming into the Championships the CCC Women were ranked 19th, but with a strong showing was able to better that ranking by 2 places.
Freshman Amber Woody ran a season best of 20:59 over the 5k distance to finish 89th overall and be the second comet across the finish line. Sierra Manygoats wasn’t far behind finishing in 93rd with a season best time of 21:04. Taking over 1 minute and 50 seconds off her next fastest time of the season was Talya Yazzie, placing 178th in 23:05. Rounding at the scoring was Ryanna Begay in 212th place in a time of 24:01. Janelle Stone was Coconino Community College’s final finisher in 223rd place in a time of 24:26, a time that is over 3 minutes faster than her next fastest time this season.
“We ran the best we have all season today. The women truly showed up wanting to compete and perform at the highest level. Five of our women ran their season bests, and Breana ran up in the top ten for the majority of the race. I couldn’t be prouder of this group of young women”, said Head Coach Craig Hunt.
With the conclusion of the 2023 DII NJCAA Cross Country National Championships, the comets have officially wrapped up their 2023 season.
Cowley College won the National Championships with 66 points. Heartland Community College placed 2nd with 71 points, and Paradise Valley rounded out the top 3 with 115 points. In total, 38 teams and 279 individuals participated in the Women’s DII Cross Country National Championships.
