Cross-country

1/9/2012
PHCC women’s cross-country has its first All American. Kayla Bratcher competed in the 2011 NJCAA Half Marathon Championships on November 19 finishing 14th overall and earning All American honors. Her time of 1:33:39 for the 13.1 mile race will be the school record. This is the cross-country program’s first All American.

11/21/2011
The Lady Quista cross-country team made history this past Saturday, November 19, in Dallas, Ga. as they represented PHCC for the first time at the NJCAA National Half Marathon Championships. The team finished sixth overall in the women’s field. They were led by Kayla Bratcher finishing in 14th place. Her time was 1:33:39. She was followed by sophomore Colleen McAuliffe in 19th place with a finish time of 1:35:44. Rounding out the scoring was Natalie Dudley in 35th with 1:40:26. Tierra Monroe was the other representative for PHCC and she finished in 1:54:50. The entire team ran a strong race and represented PHCC with class. This was the final meet of the season.

11/14/2011
The Lady Quista team headed to Hobbs, N.M. with their sights set on improving on the 20th place finish from 2010. Not only did they improve, but the team raced to a 13th place finish. This is by far the program’s highest finish in the seven years of the program. The team faced the challenge of a two-hour time difference along with a 3600 ft. elevation, but overcame those obstacles to finish strong. The team was led by sophomore Colleen McAuliffe finishing in 21:19 and was followed closely by Kayla Bratcher in 21:27 then Christa Acosta with a 21:41. All three finished in the top 100 with 71, 78 and 99 place finishes respectively. Freshman Marissa Tomei had a very strong kick to finish fourth for the ladies in a 21:56 good enough for 108. Natalie Dudley rounded out the top five scoring with a 22:44 for 161st. The team had the best season yet. Up next for the team is the NJCAA Half Marathon National meet on November 20 in Dallas, Ga. McAuliffe, Bratcher, Dudley and Tierra Monroe will represent the Quistas for the 13.1 mile race.

Results can be found at: http://www.nmjc.edu/assets/documents/Women%27s%20and%20Men%27s%20Results.pdf

10/23/2011
The 7th annual PHCC 5k was a huge success this year. Over 200 participants in the event for the 5k and free kids fun run. Kat Matuszko was the race director and did an excellent job making sure the event was a huge success. Results can be found at www.coolrunning.com. Leading the way to first overall female was sophomore Kayla Bratcher. She finished in a personal best of 19:26. She was followed by Colleen McAuliffe in another best of 19:35. Both ladies broke into the 19's for the first time this year. Rounding out the top five were Christa Acosta (20:04), Natalie Dudley (20:34) and Marissa Tomei (20:52). All 13 ladies competed in the 5k and ran terrific races. There weren’t any other teams so no team scores were kept.

These results helped boost the team to 8th in the nation. The postings came out on 10/25/11 and this will be the final race before the team heads to Hobbs, N.M. for the NJCAA National Cross-Country Meet on November 12. The team hopes to finish in the top 10.

10/16/2011
The PHCC Lady Quista cross-country team headed back to Orlando on Friday night to compete in University of Central Florida’s meet. The race for the women was a 6k (the team usually races a 5k). The NCAA teams will race 6k at their national meet so the distance would help prepare the universities for that competition. The PHCC team rose to the occasion and finished 10th among 18 teams. They were the only junior college in attendance.

Leading the way for the team was sophomore Kayla Bratcher who finished just under 25 minutes in 24:59. This converts to a personal best 5k of 20:34 (using the conversion from runningtimes.com). She was followed closing by Colleen McAuliffe in 25:01 (20:36 5k). Natalie Dudley had an impressive race with a 22:36 (21:44 5k). Rounding out the scoring were freshmen Marissa Tomei 26:35 (21:53 5k) and Ajla Spijodic 26:38 (21:56 5k). Ajla would have had a 5k season best if the race was a 5k.

After the muddy race at Disney last week the team had fallen to 12th in the rankings. Hopefully their performance this week brings them back into the top 10. Up next for the team is the 7th annual PHCC run with the Quistas on Sunday Oct 23 at 8 a.m. There is still time to register at active.com.

10/13/2011
The 9th ranked Lady Quistas headed to Disney’s Wide World of Sports on Saturday Oct 8. The weather was not exactly fit for fast running as there were torrential downpours just before the race started. This turned the race course into a big swamp filled with mud. The ladies held strong and were led by freshman Christa Acosta in 20:52. This was actually a faster time than her Chicago performance. She was followed by sophomores Colleen McAuliffe and Kayla Bratcher: 21:12 and 21:18 respectively. To round out the scoring Marissa Tomei and Ajla Spijodic finished strong with times of 21:46 and 22:22. The ladies placed 18th out of 28 total teams. Johnson County Community College finished just ahead in 17th.

The 9th place ranking in week five is the best ranking this late in the season for the PHCC cross-country program. The last four weeks they have cracked the top 10. Up next is UCF Black and Gold challenge where the women’s field races a 6,000 m race versus the standard 5,000 m. Then the team will host the 7th Annual PHCC Run with the Quistas 5k. Hope to see you there!

10/3/2011
The team headed to Chicago for the 39th annual Sean Earl Loyola Lakefront Invitational for their biggest meet of the season. With over 500 runners and 54 teams competing the ladies were ready to uphold their week 4 ranking of ninth in the nation. The lower temperatures helped the ladies place 28th among 45 full team scores. The team was led by Colleen McAuliffe (20:28) who ran her best time of the season. The top five were all within a minute with Christa Acosta (20:54) and Kayla Bratcher (21:02) finishing 2nd and 3rd respectively for the team. The scoring was rounded out by Natalie Dudley (21:25) and Marissa Tomei (21:28). Five of the eight ladies had personal best performances with Ajla Spijodic (21:40), Alea Basulto (23:02) and Brooke Peters (23:17) finishing 6th through 8th for the team. The course was not the fastest but the team held strong up a hill three times with wind off the shore at 10-20 mph. Hopefully their performance keeps them in the top 10 rankings for the fourth week in a row. Next up for the Lady Quistas is the Walt Disney World Cross-Country Meet on October 8.

9/26/2011
The PHCC cross-country team had a week off during the third week of the regular season. Following the ladies’ outstanding performance at USF, they moved up to ninth in the rankings. After the “bye” week they fell one slot to 10th as they headed to University of Florida for the 2011 Mountain Dew Invitational. The team was led by sophomore Colleen McAuliffe, finishing with a sub 21 minute time of 20:56. She was followed by freshman, Christa Acosta, 21:17. Next, Natalie Dudley and Kayla Bratcher made a sprint to the finish and were able to cross the line with a time of 21:47. That is another personal best for Natalie. She continues to cut off time each week. Rounding out the scoring was Ajla Spidojic with a time of 22:25. The ladies hope their times keep them in the top 10 rankings. They head up to Chicago to compete in one of the largest meets in the nation at the 2011 Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. There they should have some junior college competition.

9/12/2011
The 13th ranked Quista cross-country team headed to “The Claw” Friday night for the University of South Florida invitational. After a 40 minute lightning delay the ladies ran a terrific race on a soggy, muddy course. Leading the way was freshman Christa Acosta. She ran 50 seconds faster this week finishing with a 20:33. Sophomores Kayla Bratcher and Colleen McAuliffe weren’t too far behind to bring in sub 21 times of 20:49 and 20:53 respectively. The scoring was finished by Marissa Tomei (21:26) and Natalie Dudley (22:05). This is the first time in PHCC cross-country history where five runners were sub 22:05. The ladies placed 12th in the field that was stacked with USF, UF, UT and Miami. Hopefully their fast times will help them move up in the rankings this week.

This next week the ladies have an off week then head to University of Florida on September 24 for the Mountain Dew Invitational.

9/6/2011
The PHCC women’s 2011 cross-country season started Friday September 2 at the Early Bird Invitational sponsored by University of Tampa. Last year’s No.1 runner, Colleen McAuliffe held strong for the Quistas finishing as our top runner again this year. She finished with a time of 20:53. Not too far behind was freshman Christa Acosta making her debut in the PHCC uniform. Kayla Bratcher, back from a couple of seasons off was the team’s third runner finishing in 22:04. Marissa Tomei and Natalie Dudley rounded out the scoring with 22:37 and 22:42 finishing times for the 5k course. Natalie improved over 3 minutes from last year’s finish. The team finished 11th among 14 full teams, only 11 points from ninth place. University of South Florida won the meet with only 24 points. The ladies head to USF this Friday night to compete at 6 p.m. on the golf course.

Official results can be found at: http://www.tampaspartans.com/article.asp?articleID=3043

8/2/2011
The 7th Annual PHCC 5k race is scheduled for 8 a.m., Sunday, October 23. Come out and support the cross-country program, run on a flat course and enjoy the post race refreshments. Register online at active.com or complete a race application and return in the mail. Entry fee (T-shirt included): $15 early registration (postmarked before October 15) or $20 race day registration.