DRAGONS 4TH IN STAMPEDE UNIVERSITY DIVISION
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
JOPLIN, Mo. – Hutchinson Community College head cross country coach Justin Riggs decided to have his Blue Dragon men into the Missouri Southern Stampede University Division this season to push his sophomores.
Riggs' sophomores did just what he had hoped they did on Saturday morning at the Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course.
Blue Dragon sophomores Andrew Kibet, Sylvetre Kibarar and Brett Hillabrand led the way for Hutchinson to fourth in the 30-team Stampede University Division.
The Blue Dragons had 190 team points. Missouri Southern won the team title with 56 points. Northwest Missouri State was second with 71 and Alabama-Huntsville was third with 79 points. The Blue Dragons were the only NJCAA team running with the NCAA Division I and Division II runners.
This was the NJCAA Division I seventh-ranked Blue Dragons' first 8,000-meter race of the 2019 season.
As expected, Kibet, the defending NJCAA national champion, led the way for Hutchinson, finishing fourth with a time of 24:33.92. He was 29 seconds off the individual winning pace.
Kibarar followed with an 8K personal-best time of 24:44.05 to finish fifth overall. Kirabar's time was sixth-fasted 8,000-meter time in Blue Dragon history.
Hillabrand finished 31st overall with a time of 25:51.42.
Other runners to figure in the scoring for Hutchinson was freshman Teagan Flanagan, who was 49th in a time of 26:14.30. Freshman Austin Lorenzo was 127th in 27:35.47.
Other Blue Dragon runners on Saturday were Jeffrey Klopft (135th,27:42.14), Matthew Schrag (178th, 28:28.17), Zach Haxton (210th, 29:04.58); and Alex Nava (266th, 31:24.37).
The Blue Dragons will run again next Friday at the Emporia State Invitational.