HUTCHINSON – A solid mix of newcomers and returners would help the Cloud County women's cross country team land four runners inside the top-10 to take a convincing 17-point victory in the team race to open the season at the 2020 Terry Masterson Twilight Classic in Hutchinson, Kansas on Friday.
Earning a team title among the five competing women's teams, Cloud County would finish with 35 total points and 17 points clear of runner-up Cowley College who finished with 52 points. Host Hutchinson would take third with 59 points followed by Dodge City (92 points) and Barton (114) while Coffeyville, Allen, Neosho, Highland, and MCC-Longview would not post team scores.
"I'm very happy for our sophomore girls as they set the tone for this group and had success individually last year, but to win the team title is a lot fun" said head coach Drew Mahin in a post-race interview. "Patricia Koma" had a great race, and as long as she can continue to improve will be in the hunt for a regional title in October." "Kya Johnson and Maryse Mbenoun are great leaders for this team, and they deserve a lot of credit for helping make this team happen." "On and off the course they are always helping and supporting others and I'm happy we could put a team around them that allowed us to see some immediate success."
Four of the top 10 finishers in the individual race would come courtesy of CCCC as Koma would take runner-up honors in her first race as a T-Bird while Johnson would get her year off to a strong start with a sixth-place finish in a time of 19:47.20. Also earning top-10 finishes for Cloud County would be Mbenoun (eighth, 19:56.90) and Pamela Milano (ninth, 20:03.90) while Abbey Hoover would come in 14th place with a time of 20:22 in her first collegiate race. The T-Birds would also have Emma Holthaus (20:43.60), Abigail Fisher (21:27.10), and Passion Crews (24:36.10) all post times in the meet in what would be their first time running in a college cross country meet.
What's next?
With one race in the books, Cloud County will return to action next Friday with a trip to El Dorado to take part in the 2020 Ollie Isom Invitational hosted by Butler Community College. The 5K race will get underway at 4 p.m. and will serve as a preview of this year's 2020 NJCAA Region VI Championships as many Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference teams are expected to be in attendance to compete at the site of Region Championships which will take place in October.