Hutchinson CC Sports Information
EL DORADO – With three runners in the Top 5 and five runners in the Top 15, the Hutchinson Community College men's cross country team completed something never done before in program history on Friday.
The No. 9-ranked Blue Dragons captured the Region 6 and Jayhawk West men's cross country championship for the third-straight season at the Butler Cross Country Course.
Hutchinson scored 37 team points, posting a 33-point win over runner-up Butler (70 points). Colby was third with 85 points. The Blue Dragons had 29 points in the Jayhawk West team race. Colby had 65 and Cloud County had 77.
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The Blue Dragons captured their 10th overall Region 6 championship in program history. Head coach Connor Deakin becomes the first Blue Dragon coach to win a regional championship in his first season with the program.
Freshman Letsepa Prince Madume became the second-straight Blue Dragon runner to win a regional individual championship. Last season Cornelius Kogo won the Region 6 title. Mudame is the fifth all-time Hutchinson runner to win the Region 6 Championship.
Outside of the Chile Pepper Festival against top NCAA Division I runners, Friday was the first race where Madume was pushed. Through 7,000 meters, Madume was neck-and-neck with Butler's Abdirisak Saidgurhan. But in the final 1,000 meters Mudame pulled away for a 4.1-second victory.
Madume's time was 24:24.0, the fifth-fastest time by a Blue Dragon in Region 6 history.
Sophomores Esteban Oses Campos and Esteban Ortega were also top-five placers and earned first-team all-region honors.
Oses Campos placed third in the region and second in the conference with a time of 24:45.3, the sixth-fastest Blue Dragon time in Region 6 history.
Ortega posted the 10th-fastest time in a Region 6 meet by a Blue Dragon with a fifth-place time of 25:09.7. Ortega was fourth in the conference.
The Blue Dragons completed the dominant finish with Top 15 finishes from sophomore Carson Wetzel and freshman Gerald Kiprono.
Wetzel placed 13th in the region and 10th in the conference with a time of 26:27.8. Kiprono ran a time of 26:28.0 to placed 15th in the region and 12th in the Jayhawk West.
Freshman Eli White was 46th in the region and 30th in the conference with a time of 29:37.0. Freshman Preston Hittle was 54th and 33rd with a time of 30:19.1.