HutchCC Sports Information
WINFIELD, Kan. — The cross country course at the Kansas Veterans Home must agree with the Hutchinson Community College men’s cross country team.
Two weeks after Titus Kiprotich set an 8,000 individual school record on the very same course, Dennis Cheruiyot beat that mark and paced No. 5-ranked Hutchinson to a Region 6 Championship team title on Friday.
The Blue Dragons swept both Region 6 and Jayhawk West team championships in dominant fashion with four runners placing in the Top 10 and six placing in the Top 20.
Hutchinson won the Region 6 title with 35 points. Runner-up Butler scored 57 and Fort Hays Tech Northwest was third with 84 points. The Blue Dragons won the Jayhawk West title with 25 points. Fort Hays Tech Northwest was second with 61 points and Garden City was third with 76 points.
This was the Hutchinson men’s eighth all-time Region 6 team championship and first since 2018. The Dragons captured their third Jayhawk West title in team history.
Cheruiyot, a freshman, became the new Blue Dragon individual record holder at 8,000 meters with a Region 6 runner-up finish and Jayhawk West title performance with a time of 23:46.77.
Freshman Cornelius Kogo was right on the heels of Cheruiyot, placing third in the region and second in the conference with a time of 23:50.50, the third-fastest 8K time in Blue Dragon history.
Kiprotich placed fifth in the region and fourth in the Jayhawk West with a time of 23:58.94. He ran a school-record of 23:49.64 two weeks ago at the Region 6 Preview to break the Blue Dragon 8K record.
Freshman Farrin Mangelson was the fourth Blue Dragon to place in the Top 10 with the 12th-fastest 8K time in Blue Dragon history of 24.49.77. Mangelson was seventh in the Jayhawk West.
Freshman Thaddeus Rotich was 15th in the region and 11th in the conference with a time of 25:12.86, which was the 19th-fastest time in team history.
Freshman Kaden Lohrentz was the sixth Blue Dragon inside the Top 20 with a 19th-place Region 6 finish and 14th-place in the Jayhawk West with a personal-best time of 25:12.86.
Sophomore David Ultreras was 31st in the region and 21st in the league with a time of 26:24.53. Sophomore Leo LeGrand was 36th and 24th, respectively, with a time of 26:30.29. Freshman Blake Yoder was 40th in the region and 27th in the league with a time of 27:13.81.
The Blue Dragons will next compete in the NJCAA Division I Championships on November 9 in Richmond, Virginia.