COLBY - A second consecutive NJCAA Region VI and Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division Title would come down to a mere seven points as the Cloud County Community College women's cross country team would hold off Dodge City Community College to go back-to-back with Region and Conference Division Titles at the Meadow Lake Golf Course in Colby on Saturday.
With both the T-Birds and Conquistadors finishing with three top-10 finishers, the difference would ultimately come down to CCCC edging DCCC in the top finishes as Cloud County won the 10-team meet with 42 points while Dodge City finished with 49 points. Back in third would be Hutchinson Community College with a total of 82 points while host Colby would finish in fourth with 95 total points.
Leading the T-Birds championship effort would be a third-place finish from Ludjenie Mondesir with a time of 19:31.97 while Lucy Ndungu would finish in fourth in her first Region Championship race with a time of 19:34.98. An eighth-place finish from Melody Ochana (20:05.06) would put CCCC at 15 points through three runners as Pamela Milano (11th, 20:15.03), and Emma Holthaus (18th, 21:13.14) gave Cloud County all five of their scorers in the top-20 to edge the Conquistadors who happened to do the same thing (fifth, sixth, ninth, 14th, and 17th).
Finishing just outside the top-20 in 21st would be Abigail Fisher with a time of 21:26.78 while Christina Beard (38th, 23:27.94) and Clarissa Koch (41st, 23:44.97) also posted times for CCCC. The KJCCC West Division Results would be nearly identical to the Region VI Division I result as both Cloud County and Dodge City would match their team scores of 42 and 49 points respectively with Hutchinson lowering their score by two points with 80 and Colby dropping from 95 points down to 83 points.
The Region VI Title is Cloud County's third since 1983 as CCCC also won the 2020 NJCAA Region VI Division I title and 1994 NJCAA Region VI Division II title. KJCCC West and East Division Titles began with the 1995 Region VI Cross Country Championships as Cloud County has now won both of their two KJCCC West Division Titles in program history in the past two years.
Post-Race Awards
With top-15 finishes in the race, Mondesir, Ndungu, Ochana, and Milano all earn All-Region VI honors while the duo of Mondesir and Ndungu earn All-KJCCC West accolades for top-seven finishes among KJCCC West Division runners. Cloud County head coach Drew Mahin would also earn a post-race award by being named Region VI Women's Coach of the Year for leading the T-Birds to a second-straight Region VI Title.
What's next?
Just one race remains in the 2021 season for Cloud County as the T-Birds will travel to Richmond, Virginia to compete in the 2021 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Nov 13. CCCC will look to follow up on last year's NJCAA Division I National Runner-Up finish which was the best finish in program history.