Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College women's and men's track and field teams begin competition on Thursday at the NJCAA Division I National Track and Field Championships in Hobbs, NM.

The Blue Dragon women have six individual qualifiers and one relay. The men's team has five qualifiers and one relay that will compete over the three-day competition.

WOMEN'S PREVIEW
Third-year sophomore All-American Violet Martinez will compete in her third national outdoor event at 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Martinez, who earned outdoor All-America honors in 2021 and 2022 is ranked seventh in the NJCAA this season after clearing a PR 10 feet, 7 inches (3.23 meters) at the Bethel Invitational in April. Martinez will be joined by white-card entry, freshman Alivia Noll, who is 11th in the NJCAA at 9 feet, 9.75 inches (2.98m).

Super sophomore Lushous Davis will compete in a pair of events, one as a qualifier and the other as a white-card entry. Davis launched the second-best hammer throw in Blue Dragon program history on April 29 when she threw 156 feet, 6 inches (47.70m) at the Southwestern Relays. That mark ranks No. 5 in the NCAA heading into nationals. Davis will also compete in the discus, where she is ranked 12th in the nation at 133-8 (40.75m). The women's hammer throw is at 1 p.m. on Thursday and the discus is at 6 p.m. on Friday.

Two Blue Dragon high jumpers will compete in Hobbs. Freshmen Madelyn Hernandez will look to cap a strong first season with the Blue Dragons as she enters nationals ranked 10th in the high jump at 5 5 3/4 (1.67m). Freshman Liberty Limon is 17th in the NJCAA, but comes off a strong Region VI performance and has a high of 5-3 3/4 (1.62m) entering nationals. Hernandez and Limon will compete at 2 p.m. on Friday.

Freshmen Gracie Lambert and Serenity Larson both have an individual event and will run legs of the Blue Dragons' 4x800-meter relay this weekend.

Lambert will run in the 800-meter preliminaries at 3:10 p.m. on Friday. Slowed by injuries in the outdoor season, Lambert's top 800 time this season is 2:19.73. She is ranked 20th entering nationals.

Larson will run in the 5,000-meter finals at 3:25 p.m. on Saturday. The Blue Dragon cross country All-American ran a top 5,000 time of 18:53.82. She is ranked 21st in the NJCAA.

Lambert, Larson, Ellie Van Zelfden and Taylor Hoskinson enter the weekend ranked ninth in the 4x800 relay. The Blue Dragon relay posted a season's best time of 9:42.96. The 4x800 final is Thursday night at 7 p.m. That same relay team won the NJCAA indoor national championship in March in Topeka.

MEN'S PREVIEW
Two-time indoor All-American long jumper Dimetre Browne will go after his first outdoor All-America honor at 1 p.m. on Thursday. Browne, slowed by injuries since the KT Woodman Classic in early April. Brown is the highest-ranked Blue Dragon amongst the qualifiers. He is sixth in the NJCAA with a jump of 24 feet, 5 1/2 inches (7.45m).

A pair of Blue Dragon pole vaulters will be in competition at 5 p.m. on Thursday. Region VI champion Nathaniel Hein is seventh in the NJCAA after winning the regional with a vault of 15 feet, 1 3/4 inches (4.62m). Freshman Brayden Peterson has made steady improvement in the outdoor season and is ranked No. 14 in the nation at 14 feet, 6 inches (4.41m).

Sophomore hurdler Sharim Hamilton is 10th in the 400-meter hurdles, just 0.42 seconds out of eighth place. Hamilton posted a season's-best time of 52.73 seconds, winning the KT Woodman Classic in Wichita in early April. The 400 hurdle preliminaries are set for 8:15 p.m. on Thursday.

Sophomore distance runner Carsyn Turpin runs in the final event of Day 1 at 9:50 p.m. on Thursday in the 10,000-meter finals. Turpin is 22nd in the NJCAA with a qualifying time of 32:36.24, which he posted at the KT Woodman Classic.

The Blue Dragon 4x100-meter relay team will run in the preliminaries at 7:45 p.m. on Thursday. The relay team of Omari Smith, Hamilton, Cameron Campbell and Ezekiel Seamster is ranked 19th in the NJCAA with a top time of 41.44 seconds.

The Blue Dragon men will be missing sophomore Caleb Manning, who qualified in both the triple and long jumps this season. He will me nationals because of injuries.