Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Hutchinson Community College freshman women's cross country runner Mildred Rono had quite a Blue Dragon debut on Friday night at Fun Valley.
Rono set two meet/course records in winning the Terry Masterson Twilight Classic individual title and leading the No. 15-ranked Blue Dragon women to a team runner-up finish.
Rono smashed the course record over the 3-mile course, becoming the first runner in the 10-year history of the event to break the 17-minute mark with a course-record and Invitational record time of 16:55.63 seconds. Rono beat the old course record of 17:34.75 set in 2023 by Fort Hays State's Regan Hodsden by 39.12 seconds.
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Rono's winning margin of over women's runner-up Mercy Jepkoech of Wichita State of 55.30 seconds was also the widest margin of victory in the 10-year history of the Masterson Twilight.
Rono is the second-straight Blue Dragon to win the Masterson Twilight individual championship. Last year, NJCAA All-American Faith Jepchirchir won with a time of 16.17.0.
Wichita State repeated as team champion with 30 points. The Shockers had four runners place in the Top 10, including former Blue Dragon All-American Jordyn Picolet, who placed seventh with a time of 19:01.38.
The Blue Dragons were runner-up with 73 points. This was Hutchinson's seventh Top 3 finish at the Masterson Twilight. Garden City was third with 77 point and Tabor was fourth with 91 points.
Hutchinson had two runners overall in the individual Top 10 on Friday night.
Freshman Ashara Frater placed sixth with a time of 18:56.78.
Freshman Kimberlin Lovell placed 16th with a time of 20:18.35.
Freshman Eva Ramey was 21st with a time of 20:50.84.
Freshman Sabrina McDonald was 37th in a time of 22:15.38.
The Blue Dragons will next compete at the Missouri Southern Stampede on September 20 in Joplin, Missouri. That will be the Dragons' first 5K race of the season.
There were four runners who joined the all-time Top 25 club for the Masterson Twilight.
Wichita State's Jepkoech posted the fourth-fastest time in meet history. Garden City's Mai Meryeme was third with the 11th-best time in meet history of 18:13.88. Wichita State's Francesca Alvarado was fourth with the 19th-best time of 18:28.33.