Shirley, Huma helps Central Arizona College win conference title

Posted by Oree Foster | Oct 1, 2015 | Track & Field |

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Central Arizona College’s Jelani Huma (Hopi), left, and Jessica Shirley (Navajo) hold the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference championship plaque, after the Vaqueras captured the title last Friday in Tucson.

FORT DEFIANCE

Every year the Central Arizona College cross-country program gets its fair share of elite Native American distance runners.

“I love to recruit Native American distance runners,” said Central Arizona head cross-country coach Paul Tavares.

“They are hard workers. They are dedicated and they are disciplined. They love racing and competing against the nation’s top distance runners. Every year we have Native American athletes on the women’s and men’s teams. In fact there have been Native Americans who helped Central Arizona win the cross-country NJCAA national championship.”

After scouring the state looking for talented distance runners, Tavares and Central Arizona assistant coach Jonathan Harmon recruited two highly touted Native American distance runners in Jessica Shirley, a Navajo from Chinle High School, and Jelani Huma, a Hopi from Scottsdale Saguaro High School.

“It is a pleasure to coach Jessica and Jelani,” said Tavares, who is beginning his ninth year with the program and sixth year as head coach.

“They have talent. They are gaining experience racing against the best distance runners in the U.S. We’ve competed at University of California-Riverside and the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference championships.

They both raced well. They helped Central Arizona women’s team win the ACCAC championship and the team is No. 1 in the nation.”