[ By STEVE CARPENTER ]
[ BLUE DRAGON SPORTS INFORMATION ]
JOPLIN, MO — The Hutchinson Community College cross country team accomplished something on Saturday that had not been done
since 2000.
The Blue Dragons won the Missouri Southern State University Stampede team title on Saturday. Added to the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic team championship on August 31, the Blue Dragons have at least two team championships in the same season in 18 years.
Hutchinson placed four runners in the Top 10 to win the MSSU Stampede team title with 41 points. Jayhawk Conference rival Allen was second with 67 points and Baker University was third with 142 points.
Freshman Andrew Kibet dominated the Stampede field, winning his second-race of the season with an 8K time of 24 minutes, 42.6 seconds, the fifth-fastest performance in Blue Dragon men’s cross country history.
Kibet won the men’s race by a staggering 1 minutes, 23.05 second gap.
Freshman Sylvestre Kiraber placed sixth for the Blue Dragons with a time of 26:15.3. Freshman Brett Hillabrand placed eighth with a time of 26:42.8. Sophomore Jared Stark was 10th after a career-best time of 26:43.6. Sophomore Conner Kaufmann was the fifth Blue Dragon to finish, placing 17th with a time of 27:22.3.
Other Blue Dragon results from Saturday:
+ 30. Kade Gerlach, 27:51.9
+ 41. Gavin Alexander, 28:05.6
+ 52. Grant Clothier, 28:28.7
+ 82. Tony Ibarra, 29:27.0
+ 92. Jason Luft, 29:46.4
+ 184. Jacob Schartz, 33:00.7
Women’s Race:
Two weeks ago, Hutchinson Community College freshman runner Lisayo Ewoi was nipped at the wire by
Pratt’s Aminata Kenyewani at the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic.
Ewoi left nothing to chance on Saturday at the Missouri Southern State University Stampede.
Ewoi won the MSSU Stampede and did so breaking a 17-year Blue Dragon women’s cross country record.
Ewoi won the Stampede in a time of 18 minutes, 29.1 seconds. That time blew away the old Blue Dragon women’s cross country record set by Ruth Limo in the 2001 Region VI championships. This was only the second time a Blue Dragon women’s cross country runner broke the 19-minute plateau.
Ewoi’s winning time on Saturday was 12 seconds over Pratt’s Kenyewani.
The Blue Dragons had two runners finish in the Top 20 and 4 of 5 Hutch scorers finished in the Top 25. That helped Hutchinson to a fourth-place finish in the 20-team field. The Dragons scored 104 points. Cowley was the team champion with 61 points, followed by Southwestern College (76 points) and Friends University (104 points). Allen was fifth (159 point).
Sophomore Aileen Gomez finished 19th overall with a time of 19:46.0, her second-fastest career time as a Blue Dragon.
Sophomore Sarah Patteson posted a tie for the 20th-fastest time in Blue Dragon history with a 21st-place time of 19:46.0
Freshman Gabby Collins ran a time of 19:49.0, which was 24th on Saturday and tied for the 22nd fastest time in Blue Dragon history.
Sophomore Sam Ahmara was the fifth Blue Dragon to finish. She finished 54th with a time of 20:34.0, a career-best time.
Other Blue Dragon results were: America Garcia (72nd/20:56.3), Macy Linenberger (98th/21:36.5), Ashton Schlickau (100th/21:38.0), Caitlin Schlickau (112th/22:04.7) and Carissa Youngs (132nd/22:38.1).
The Blue Dragons will be off until October 6 when Hutchinson will run at the Emporia State Invitational.