HUTCHINSON - In traditional fashion, the Cloud County Community College men's and women's cross-country teams would open their respective seasons with a first and third-place finish at the 2021 Terry Masterson Twilight Classic in Hutchinson Friday.
Marking the sixth-straight season that the T-Birds kicked off the season at Fun Valley, the T-Bird men would bounce back from last year's fourth place showing to win the 17-team meet by finishing with 65 total points and nearly 40 points better than second-place finisher Cowley College. Washburn would take third on the men's side with 118 points while Fort Scott (133 points) and Newman University (148 points) would round out the top-five of a meet featuring NCAA Division II, NAIA, and NJCAA schools.
Winning the meet for the second time in the past three years, CCCC would be led by a runner-up finish from sophomore Awet Beraki in a time of 20;06.50 on the four-mile course while Edwin Kipainoi would take fifth in his first collegiate cross-country race by posting a time of 20:49.20. Returning second-year freshman Michael Iyali would give Cloud County a third runner in the top-10 with an eighth-place finish and a time of 20:56.50. Garden City would be the only other school to place multiple runners in the top-10 of the 167-runner field with the T-Bird men rounding out their scoring with a 22nd-place finish from Linus Limo (22:02.80) and Elmer Sotelo (31st, 22:34.40). Also running for CCCC in the meet on Friday would be Rylan Cheney who would finish 59th with a time of 23:27.40, Raziel Patton in 71st with a time of 23:52.10, and Julian Avila (98th, 24:46.80).
A more tightly contested women's race would see the T-Bird women finish with 105 points and earn a third-place finish while trailing only NCAA Division II Washburn (48 points) and Dodge City Community College who pulled out a runner-up finish with 81 total points. The third-place finish for Cloud County would come despite not placing a single-runner in the top-10, the only team to place in the top five and one of only two teams in the top-eight to do so.
Leading the way for CCCC would be sophomore Ludjenie Mondesir who took 13th with a time of 19:53.60, the T-Birds would also get a 23rd place finish from Pamela Milano (20:26.20) and 28th-place finish from Melody Ochana (20:42.30). Right behind Ochana would be Lucy Ndungu in 29th with a time of 20:45.60 while Emma Holthaus would be only two seconds back in 31st at 20:47.40. Abigail Fisher (54th, 21:44.50), Bailey Rock (58th, 22:05.80), and Christina Beard (81st, 23:40.10) would also run for the T-Birds and get their first taste of competition for the 2021 season.
What's next?
Cloud County will have a weekend off next week before ramping things up with a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska to take part in the Greeno/Dierksen Invitational. After seeing the meet canceled last year due to COVID-19, the T-Birds will be returning to the meet that traditionally features a mix of NCAA Division I, II, NAIA, and NJCAA schools.