This past Saturday, Paradise Valley's cross country teams made a statement at the 2025 NJCAA Division II Cross Country National Championship Meet in Fort Dodge, Iowa. More familiar with sand storms than snow storms, the Pumas ignored the complete white-out conditions and trudged through snow, wind, ice, mud and over 300 runners per race to bring home second-place and third-place team trophies and added an individual national champion just for good measure. "Everyone thought the weather would affect us adversely," said Coach David Barney, "but these guys have been through the refiner's fire, they understand that adversity not only allows us to grow, it is necessary to grow, and that challenges, especially unexpected ones, are a good thing if you approach them with the right attitude. They also understand that they can lean on each other for strength when those challenges arise- that's what they did today, they leaned on each other and lifted each other up. They're an unbelievable group of young men and young women, and they've certainly been a blessing in my life."
The PV men raced first heading straightaway into the 10-20 mph wind and downpour of snow. After a lot of slipping and sliding, they came home with the 2025 NJCAA DII Cross Country third place trophy. This was the men's best finish since winning the NJCAA championship in 2022. The Pumas were led by freshman Brady Eagar who finished fourth overall with a time of 26:39.20 over the 8,000m course. Eagar was followed by teammates Alexavier Martinez, 12th (27:16.60); Kevin DeGroff, 19th (27:30.20); Conor McGlynn, 44th (28:08.30); Jeremiah Judd, 57th (28:18.20); Joel Bejarano, 66th (39:28.00); and Nicholas Hiser, 253rd (32:05.80). "Our men ran a great race," commented Barney, "Every one of them ran tough in spite of the freezing conditions- they really held the rope for each other; I'm very proud of them." Eagar, Martinez, and DeGroff were named NJCAA All-Americans, and Lansing Community College won the 46-team race featuring 344 student-athletes.
On the women's side, freshman Arianna Mason is the 2025 NJCAA DII Women's Cross Country individual national champion, crossing the finish line of the 5,000m course in a time of 18:43.90. "I thought that any one of our top three women could win the individual title," stated Barney, "They've worked really hard together in preparation, and today was Ari's day. I'm super proud of her!" Mason is the third consecutive individual national champion for the Pumas, joining Jackson Bland who won the men's title last year and Nathan Pestka who won in 2023. Mason is the third Puma woman to win an Individual title, the first since 2001.
Mason helped lead the Puma women to their second straight NJCAA runner-up finish, as they fell to Mesa Community College for the second consecutive year. Mason was followed by teammates Audrey Encinas, 3rd (18:52.90); Laynee Hollech, 4th (18:53.00); McKenna Martin, 30th (20:36.30); Shantelle Berrien, 57th (21:14.40); Tatyana Enriquez, 74th (21:37.10); and Catalina Case, 95th (22:02.00). "We would have loved to win the championship title, but I couldn't be more proud of our women," mused Barney, "They ran in the last of six races, so the course was really chewed up by the time they raced, but that didn't bother them. In my eves, they really are the champions- they're my heroes!" Mason, Encinas, and Hollech were named NJCAA First-Team All-Americans. There were 44 teams and 321 student-athletes competing in the race.
Congratulations to Puma Cross Country and head coach Dave Barney on an excellent season!
You can watch a full replay of the Men's and Women's races on Youtube.
