AUGUSTA– Freshman Austin Lettau finished 16th in the college division to lead theHutchinsonCommunity Collegemen’s cross country team at the Wichita State J.K. Gold Classic on Saturday at Raft Golf Course.

Lettau and sophomore Nic Rogers both placed in the top 25 of the college division. Both college and university runners ran at the same time. NCAA Division I runners fromWichita State,KansasState andMissouri-KansasCitycompeted.

The Blue Dragons were the fourth-highest finishing junior college team in the college field, scoring 135 points. Garden City won the men’s college team championship with 43 points.Butlerwas third with 104 points. Allen was fourth with 114 points.

“Austinran very well today and so did Nic,”HCChead cross country coach Dave Smith said. “We had some guys step up today. Julio (Martinez) was running up in the Top 25 and developed some pain in his side which took him out of the race. So it was good to see some others run well.”

Lettau covered the 6K course in 20 minutes, 37.98 seconds. He was 16th in the college division and 42nd overall.

Rogers, who had been not feeling well in the final week of preparation was very strong with a 21st-place showing (52nd overall) with a time of 21:03.53.

Freshman Zach Weber finished 27th in the college division (65th overall) with a time of 21:31.71. Isaac Williams was 30th (69th overall) with a time of 21:42.03. Sophomore Kyle Sooter was 42nd (91st overall) in a time of 22:39.69.

Other Blue Dragon performances in the 2011 season opener were: Sophomore Brandon Massey (44th college/93rd overall in 22:44.54), freshman Andy Schepis (46th college/98th overall in 22:58.88), Taylor Fry (101st overall in 23:06.85),Martinez(102nd overall in 23:08.84), Enrique Sanchez (107th in 23:23.76), Lane Berger (111th in 23:51.23) and Trent Bartlett (119th in 24:53.43).

The Blue Dragons will compete in the Friends University Invitational on Saturday at the Kansas Coliseum.