STEVE CARPENTER
HutchCC Sports Information
RICHMOND, Virginia – The Hutchinson Community College women’s cross country team posted their second-straight national Top 15 finish on Saturday with a 12th-place performance at the 2021 NJCAA Division I Championships at Pole Green Park.
After a seventh-place performance in 2020, the Blue Dragons finished 12th on Saturday scoring 328 team points. The Dragons were the fourth-highest finishing team from Region VI.
College of Southern Idaho won the team national championship with 60 points. Cloud County was the national runner-up with 128 points and El Paso was third with 139 points. El Paso’s Faith Nyseha was the individual national champion in 17:08.08.
All-American Louise Cocking was the top Blue Dragon on Saturday. She finished 21st overall – she was the seventh Region VI runner to finish – posting a time of 19:13.9. Last season, Cocking earned first-team NJCAA All-America honors with a fifth-place finish. Cocking was the Region VI and Jayhawk West champion this season.
The Blue Dragons had one other Top 50 finisher. Sophomore Noelle Higaldo was 50th was a personal-best time of 20:12.5.
Freshman Anastasia Meyer and sophomores Izzy Wheeler and Jurney Yung were the other Blue Dragons to figure into the team score.
Meyer was 86th with a time of 21:22.0. Wheeler placed 90th in a time of 21:29.4. Jung was 95th in a PR time of 21:47.6.
Jung’s top two career times have come at the NJCAA Championships.
Freshman Michele Gage placed 104th in a time of 21:58.1. Freshman Sydney Grauer was 139th in a time of 24:12.8.