CCCC Athletics
HUTCHINSON - For the second time in three years, the race for a 2022 NJCAA Division I Region VI Women's Cross Country title would come down to single-digits as the Cloud County Community College women's cross country team would see a 57-point effort lead to a runner-up finish at Fun Valley Sports Complex in Hutchinson on Friday.
Putting two runners in the top 10 overall, NJCAA Division I fifth-ranked Cloud County would finish just eight points back of third-ranked Hutchinson who would win Friday's meet with 49 points at having their top three runners finish in the top six and all five scoring runners place in the top-25. Finishing back in third would be Dodge city with 81 total points while Garden City would be a distant fourth with 124 total points.
Within the battle for Region VI supremacy, CCCC would be led by a runner-up finish from sophomore Lucy Ndungu with a time of 18:10.15 as the Bridgeton, Missouri native would finish less than four seconds behind Region VI individual champion Emily Diercks of Colby. Cloud County's other top-five finisher would come courtesy of Melody Ochana with a time of 19:06.91 as the T-Birds would have seven points through two runners while Hutchinson would have three runners in with a total of 16 points. Adding to the difference in team scoring would be a 13th-place finish from Hutchinson's fourth scoring runner just in front of Abigail Fisher for CCCC who posted a time of 20:01.21 to give Cloud County three runners in the top 15 before seeing a 17th-place finish from Emmy Punches (20:17.36) and 22nd-place finish from Mary Kua (20:46.32) finish out the team scoring for CCCC. With the team total for the T-Birds locked in, Hutchinson would get their fifth runner across the finish line in 25th to secure the team title. Also running for Cloud County would be Nikola Prochazkova (21:06.78), Aina Goir (21:09.39), Bailey Rock (21:10.90), and Carryna Light (28:09.15) with all four running lifetime personal bests.
What's Next?
A chance to follow up a Region VI Runner-Up performance will come on the national stage when Cloud County heads to Tallahassee, Florida to compete in the 2022 NJCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Championships on Saturday, November 12th. Race time on the 12th is set for 10:30 AM (Eastern Standard Time) from the Apalachee Regional Park, which is set to host the 2022 NJCAA Division I and NJCAA Division II Cross Country National Championships along with the 2022 NAIA Cross Country National Championship meets.