CAPTION: The Hutchinson Community College men’s cross country team placed third in the NJCAA Division I meet Saturday at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Va. CREDIT BLUE DRAGON SPORTS/HUTCHCC SPORTS INFORMATION
By John Mesh
The Hutchinson Blue Dragon men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NJCAA Division I National Championships Saturday at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Va.
The Hutchinson men placed third with 94 points and the Blue Dragon women placed sixth with 231 points.
Hutchinson’s Titus Kiprotich and Dennis Cheruiyot placed ninth and 10th in the men’s 8K race with time of 23 minutes, 56.9 seconds and 23:57.9.
HutchCC’s Farrin Mangleson placed 21st, 24:28.3; Cornelius Kogo, 28th, 24:43.1; Thaddeus Rotich, 33rd, 24:57; Kaden Lohrentz, 78th, 28:08.04; and David Ultreras, 79th, 26:09.6.
Hutchinson freshman Faith Jepchirchir placed second in the NJCAA Division I women’s 5K race with a time of 17 minutes, 15 seconds.
HutchCC’s Jordyn Picolet placed 20th with a time of 17:59.6, followed by Abigail Grantham, 60th, 19:22.3; Ava Lemaster, 77th, 19:51.6; Laura Avila, 97th, 20:17.8; and Rio Kirvan, 132nd, 21:05.7.
Salt Lake College, Utah, swept the NJCAA Division I men’s and women’s cross country team titles. The men scored 52 points and the women 55.
Iowa Western placed second in the men’s team competition with 85 points. Butler Community College placed fourth with 125.
JaQuavious Harris of Salt Lake won the NJCAA Division I men’s title with a time of 23:30.7.
Fort Hays Tech Northwest (formerly Northwest Tech) placed 10th, Garden City Community College 12th, Cloud County Community College 17th and Neosho County Community College 27th.
Cloud County, Butler Community College, Dodge City CC and Garden City CC placed ninth, 10th, 12th and 14th in the women’s team competition. Neosho County placed 25th.
Odessa Junior College’s Elizabeth Ilanda was the NJCAA DI women’s champion with a time of 17:08.
NJCAA Division I men’s cross country results — https://blueridgetiming.live/meets/41820/events/xc/1519472
NJCAA Division I women’s cross country results — https://blueridgetiming.live/meets/41820/events/xc/1519475