by LANCASTER, Calif. – University of Antelope Valley men’s cross country junior runner Santiago Hardy (Navajo has been named Cal Pac Men’s Runner of the Month, the California Pacific Conference announced earlier today.
First-year head coach Clay Mayes praised Santiago, saying, “Santiago is an incredibly hard worker and is an exceptional role model for his community back home in Chinle. He had a great opener at the UC Riverside Invite, and despite it being early in the training process, I feel he has a shot to compete at Nationals.”
Santiago impressed last week at the UC Riverside Invitational men’s division 8,000-meter race, placing 19th out of 203 total runners, finishing ahead of all other NAIA runners, also finishing the meet with a UAV season-best time of 24:45.03.
The time was also the fastest for any Cal Pac runner through since the start of the season and is the first Cal Pac runner to eclipse the 25-minute so far this season.
You can next catch Santiago and the rest of the cross country team race Saturday, September 28 at the Mustang Challenge hosted by The Master’s University at Central Park in Santa Clarita, Calif., beginning at 7 a.m. PST.
