HUTCH MEN NET 4 NATIONAL QUALIFIERS IN NAIA/JUCO CHALLENGE
CLICK FOR FULL NAIA/JUCO CHALLENGE RESULTS
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
PITTSBURG – Sophomores David Thid and Leo LeGrand earned individual event victories and the Hutchinson Community College men's track and field team earned its first four national qualifiers on Saturday at the NAIA/JUCO Challenge at Pittsburg State University's Robert Plaster Center.
The Blue Dragons won the team title after scoring 58.5 points. Coffeyville was second with 48.25 points and Barton was third with 48 points.
Thid captured his first event title of the season, winning the 600-meter run with a meet-record time of 1:19.42. That's the second-fastest indoor 600 time in Blue Dragon history and is just .07 seconds off the Hutchinson school record. Thid's time also eclipsed the NJCAA national qualifying standard. Teammate Da'Shawn Lester just missed qualifying for nationals with a third-place time of 1:20.89, which ranks fourth in team history, just .25 seconds off the national qualifying standard.
LeGrand won the 1,000 meters with a time of 2:27.25. LeGrand was the 2024 NJCAA national runner-up in the 1,000 meters. Teammate Thaddaeus Rotich placed seventh in the 1,000 with a time of 2:35.80
Freshman sprinter Kebba Makalo qualified for nationals in two events on Saturday. Makalo posted the fourth-fastest indoor 200-meter time in Blue Dragon history and qualified for nationals with a time of 21.54 seconds. Makalo placed sixth in the 60 meters and qualified with a time of 6.80 seconds, which tied for eighth in Blue Dragon indoor history.
Sophomore Farrin Mangelson was Hutchinson's fourth qualifiers on Saturday, placing third in the 3,000 meters with a time of 8:32.83, which is the second-fastest time in program history. Right behind Mangelson was teammate Cornelius Kogo, who placed third with a time of 8:34.75, which is the third-fastest Blue Dragon time and just .23 seconds off the national qualifying standard. Titus Kiprotich was fifth in a time of 8:37.72.
The Blue Dragons had two other Top 8 placers on Saturday. Freshman Gregory Martinez tied for third in the pole vault at 13 feet, 8 1/2 inches (4.18 meters). Jayce Spencer was sixth at 13-8 1/2.
The Blue Dragons will run at two meets next weekend, running at the Washburn Open in Topeka and the Coach Wilson Open at Wichita State'e Heskett Center.