BLUE DRAGON WOMEN TAKE 3RD AT REGION VI CHAMPIONSHIPS

Kaylee James had a huge day for the Blue Dragon women with a school record in the 400 meters and a Region 6 runner-up performance in the 100-meter hurdle finals on Saturday in Pratt. (Billy Watson/Blue Dragon Sports Information)

May 4, 2024

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

PRATT – Powers by one individual regional championship, another school record and four top-three event finishes on Saturday, the Hutchinson Community College women's track and field team made history at the 2024 Region VI Outdoor Championships.

A combined 10 points from Serenity Larson and Laura Avila in the 5,000 meters on Saturday secured the best regional finish for the Blue Dragon win in team history.

The Blue Dragons scored 88.5 points over the weekend to finish third overall in the Region 6 Championships. The Blue Dragons also finished third in the Jayhawk West standings, amassing 138 points. Head coach Robert Spies was named the Jayhawk West Coach of the Year.

The Blue Dragons haven't finished higher than fifth since 2009 when then were fifth in the region and third in the Jayhawk West.

Barton won the women's team title with 168 points. Cloud County was second with 160 points.

Sophomore Kaylee James and freshman Brooke Hawkins were the big scorers for the Dragons in Saturday's events. Hawkins scored 16 points on Saturday and James accounted for 13.75 points.

Hawkins won the Region 6 triple jump with a career-best jump of 39 feet, 3 inches on Saturday. That's the fourth-best outdoor triple jump in team history. Hawkins also finished third in the high jump after clearing 5-4 1/4.

James became the second Blue Dragon this weekend to break a school record – she is the fourth record breaker in the outdoor season and eighth combining indoor and outdoor – with a fourth-place finish in the 400 meters with a school-record time of 56.91 seconds.

The Blue Dragon sophomore also posted her career-best time in the 100-meter hurdles with a Region 6 runner-up finish in a time of 13.88 seconds. James improved her second-overall fastest time in the event in Blue Dragon history.

Larson completed a 14-points regional tournament with a third-place finish in the 5,000 meters. She posted a time of 18:52.83. Avila was fifth in the event with a time of 19:29.25, the 10th-fastest time in outdoor program history.

The Blue Dragons scored points in nine different events on Saturday with multiple athletes scoring pots in four events.

+ Sophomore Alivia Noll tied for fourth in the pole vault, tying a PR at 10-2 3/4. Nakaela O'Hair was sixth, also tying a career-best at 10-2 3/4.

+ Sophomores Taylor Hoskinson and Ellie Van Zelfden placed fifth and sixth, respectively, in the 1,500 meters. Hoskinson was fifth in a time of 4:50.37. Van Zelfden was sixth in 4:59.63.

+ Liberty Limon paired up with Hawkins to score points in the high jump. Limon was seventh after clearing 5-0 3/4.

+ The Blue Dragon 4x100 relay team of Nubia Coney, Kemisha Dominique, Yaya Moreno and James placed sixth in the event with a time of 49.58 seconds.

+ Hoskinson placed eighth in the 800 meters with a time of 2:26.08.

The Blue Dragons will take 16 national qualifiers to the NJCAA outdoor Championships in two weeks in Monroe, Louisiana.