DRAGON WOMEN 2ND; LARSON 5TH AT MASTERSON TWILIGHT
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Backed by the eighth-fastest time in course history by freshman Serenity Larson, the Hutchinson Community College women's cross country team placed second in the season-opening 2022 Terry Masterson Twilight Classic on Thursday night at Fun Valley.
Larson ran a Blue Dragon-debut time of 18 minutes, 21.92 seconds to lead a group of four Hutchinson runners placing in the Top 25.
The Blue Dragons scored 85 team points to finish runner-up in the team competition. That's the best finish at the Masterson since back-to-back third-place performances in 2019 and 2020. The Blue Dragons' best finish in the Masterson was a team title in 2018.
Fort Hays State had 5 of the top 7 runners and won the women's team title with 21 points. Tabor was third with 130 points. Newman University was fourth with 144 and Dodge City was fifth with 151.
The Masterson Twilight men's race is still unofficial as of late Thursday night. Final results will be posted sometime on Friday.
In one of the fastest Masterson women's races since the race moved to the 3-mile format at Fun Valley in 2017 – the Top 11 times on Thursday were Top 25 all-time performances – individual champion Gretchen Kuffel of Fort Hays State and runner-up Shareen Cheruiyot of Garden City both beat the old course record with times of 17:39.07 and 17:58.94, respectively.
Larson paced the Blue Dragons with a fifth-place performance. Her time is the fastest ran by a Blue Dragon runner at the Masterson Twilight. The old record was Lisayo Ewoi's 18:38.28 in 2018.
Freshman Gracie Lambert placed 14th on Thursday with a time of 19:09.7. Sophomore Louise Cocking was 18th with a time of 19:09.7. Freshman Taylor Hoskinson was 22nd in 19:26.78. Freshman Ellie Van Zelfden was the other Blue Dragon to figure into the team scoring, placing 32nd with a time of 20:03.51.
Sophomore Sydney Grauer placed 39th overall with a time of 20:21.08, an improvement of 2:23 from her freshman season.
Freshman Adaline Fuller was 53rd with a time of 20:46.78. Freshman Lauren Aden was 73rd with a time of 21:29.72. Sophomore Courtney Baetz was 75th with a time of 21:35.91. Freshman Daisy Orozco placed 111th with a time of 23:38.81.
The Blue Dragons are off until September 17 when they will run at the Nebraska Woody Greeno Classic in Lincoln, Nebraska.