BLUE DRAGON CROSS COUNTRY SWEEPS NJCAA NATIONAL HONORS

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Blue Dragon women's runner Mildred Rono and men's runner Cornelius Kogo both won the season-opening Terry Masterson Twilight Classic and both were named the NJCAA National Runners of the Week on Wednesday.

Rono is the first Blue Dragon women's runner to earn national honors since Faith Jepchirchir was a pair of NJCAA weekly awards last year. Kogo is the first Blue Dragon men's runner since Teagan Flanagan on October 6, 2020 to be a national runner of the week

Rono, a freshman from Iten, Kenya, obliterated the Terry Masterson Twilight Classing record book in becoming the second-straight Blue Dragon to win the event, which was contested on Friday night at Fun Valley.

Rono smashed the Fun Valley course record with a three-mile time of 16:55.33, blitzing the old record by 39.12 seconds. She is the first runner in event history to break 17 minutes.

Rono's winning margin of 55.30 seconds is also a meet record.

Rono helped the No. 15-ranked Blue Dragon women' to a runner-up finish at the Masterson Twilight.

Kogo also won the season-opening Terry Masterson Twilight Classic on Friday night at Fun Valley. The sophomore from Eldoret, Kenya led the No. 4-ranked Blue Dragon men to a 1-2-3-4 finish as Hutchinson captured the team title for the second time in meet history.

Kogo crossed the finish line with a winning time of 20:04.10, the 13th-fastest time in Masterson Twilight history.