JORDYN PICOLET HAS BREAKTHROUGH SOPHOMORE SEASON

By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

Before the 2024 cross country season began, Hutchinson Community College head coach Jafet Molinares called sophomore runner Jordyn Picolet the "Dark Horse" of the team.

Picolet had a very common freshman season for the Blue Dragons. She was usually the Blue Dragons' third or fourth finisher on a team that was a Region 6 runner-up and 10th-place team at nationals.

But the now-sophomore from Council Grove knew she had more in her. So did Coach Molinares.

This season, Picolet has jumped out of the shadows of that "Dark Horse" moniker and she has put herself squarely in the limelight for the No. 5 Blue Dragon women's cross country team, which runs on Saturday at the NJCAA National Championships in Richmond, Virginia.

"I'm was dedicated (to running cross country) last year, but coming in I really didn't know what I was doing," Picolet said of her freshman season. "I didn't understand the 'why' of what we were doing.

"After going through it and running track last spring, I really committed to it. I ran every day in the summer and when I got back here to start this season, I was really ready to get at it."

The sign that Picolet was ready to make her climb to her performances this season actually came at the 2023 Region 6 championships. Never having broke 20 minutes as a freshman, Picolet posted a then-PR of 19:37.93 to finished 13 at regionals last season.

"There comes a point in time when somebody actually goes ahead and puts in the work and puts in the amount of miles she put in, through last season, through the summer, that's when she showed me," Molinares said. "I see what she is capable of doing at practice every day. She gains confidence every day."

Piolet's sophomore season started strong with a sixth-place performance at the Terry Masterson Classic where she cut 2 minutes, 8.31 second off her freshman time at 18:43.50.

Then came the Chili Pepper festival on September 28 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Running against major NCAA Division I competition, Picolet had her breakthrough race.

In the 40 years of Blue Dragon women's cross country, no runner had ever broken the 18-minute mark at 5,000 meters. On that September day, three Blue Dragon runners did so and Picolet was one of them.

Picolet smashed her PR to that point by 44.5 seconds posting a time of 17:53.1.

"Going into Chili Pepper, every single practice I was hitting my times and I was feeling great," Picolet said. "I knew on paper, I should have been able to run those times, bot to actually go out and do it, I was kind of in shock when it happened."

To get to that point in her running career, Molinares said that Picolet learned the importance of patience in distance running.

"Jordyn is a go-getter and is very resilient," Molinares said. "Along the journey from her freshman year to now, there's been a lot of hard work and discipline on her end. A lot of what's she's learned is a lot of patience. She now knows when to press and when not to press."

Picolet's last race before nationals was her sixth-place Region 6 finish where she improved her all-time best 5K time as a Blue Dragon to 17:48.80. That's the third-fastest time in program history.

Heading into Saturday's national championship, the Blue Dragons are ranked No. 5 and are primed for a special ending to a special season.

"I don't want to jinx anything, but we could be a Top 5 team and that's really exciting," Picolet said.