LINCOLN, Neb. - Following a week off from competition, the Cloud County Community College women's and men's cross country teams made a step up in competition to run in the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Nebraska Wesleyan University at Mahoney Park Golf Course in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday.
With both teams competing in the Gold Division which featured all non-NCAA Division I teams competing in the meet, the women would take eighth overall with a total of 176 points while the men would go on to earn a fifth-place finish with 126 total points as a team.
The women's team race would see NCAA Division II NW Missouri State run away with the title by finishing with 27 total points to finish well ahead of runner-up Hastings College of the NAIA. Benedictine Kansas would take third with 103 points followed by Doane University (112 points), Iowa Central (120 points), Iowa Western (132 points), and Nebraska Wesleyan (161 points) in front of the T-Birds.
Individually on the women's side, freshman Melody Ochana would finish in 29th place with a time of 19:47.30 in her first collegiate 6K race while Pamela Milano would finish just over the 20-minute mark with a time of 20:02.30 to take 33rd overall. Lucy Ndungu would be CCCC's next highest finisher with a time of 20:26.50 to take 41st while Christina Beard would finish 47th with a time of 20:34.40. Cloud County would see their team score completed with a time of 20:41.40 by Abigail Fisher who finished 49th while Emma Holthaus (54th, 20:49.90), Bailey Rock (80th, 21:43.40), Sicely Jackson (100th, 23:12.70), and Clarissa Koch (113th, 24:46.30) also competed and posted times for the T-Birds.
A tightly contested team race on the men's side would see second-ranked Iowa Central win with 48 total points to edge out NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State with 52 points while Colby would finish in third with 82 points. Iowa Western would be the only other team to beat out Cloud County by finishing with 92 points while there would be an 85 points gap between the T-Birds in fifth and sixth-place Benedictine Kansas.
With nine runners competing for CCCC, sophomore Awet Beraki would run a personal best time of 24:14.20 to finish fourth while Michael Iyali took 12th with a time of 25:02.80. A 27th place finish from Linus Limo would be the next-best finish for the T-Birds with a time of 26:26.40 while Edwin Kipainoi (31st, 26:43.90) and Rylan Cheney (54th, 27:50.60) would also score for Cloud County. Other finishes for the T-Birds included a 65th and 66th place finish from Kelvin Kemboi (28:14.80) and (28:19.90) while Raziel Patton (83rd, 28:51.20) and Jose Julian Avila (115th, 30:38.70) both ran in their first 8K races of the year.
What's next?
Cloud County once again will take a week off between meets as the next competition date will come in the month of October for CCCC. As things stand, the T-Birds are slated to compete in the Chili Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas the weekend of Oct. 1-3 with the competition date still being determined. The meet will kick off the only scheduled back-to-back weeks of competition for Cloud County who will be getting in final preparations prior to postseason meets.
Sep 19, 2021
CCCC cross county takes 5th, 8th at Greeno/Dirksen Invitational
Posted Sep 19, 2021 2:06 AM