HutchCC Sports Information
RICHMOND, Va. — The No. 5-ranked Hutchinson Community College men’s cross country team tied for the best finish in NJCAA National Championship history on Saturday.
Led by Top 10 finishes from freshmen Titus Kiprotich and Dennis Cheruiyot, the Blue Dragons placed third at the 2024 NJCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country Championships at Pole Green Park in Richmond, Virginia.
Blue Dragon runners who figured into the scoring ranged from ninth to 33rd place to score 94 team points. Salt Lake won the men’s team title with 52 points. Iowa Western was second with 85 points.
The 2024 Blue Dragon men tie the 1962 Blue Dragons for the highest national finish team history. This was Hutchinson’s seventh all-time Top 5 NJCAA National finish.
This was the best nationals finish since placing fifth in 2020. The Blue Dragons hadn’t posted a team score in the three previous national meets before Saturday
Earlier this season Kiprotich broke the Blue Dragons’ 8,000-meter record. He posted the fastest time by a Blue Dragon in nationals history with a ninth-place time of 23:56.9 on Saturday to earn NJCAA All-America honors.
Just one second behind was Cheriuyot, who placed 10th in 23:57.9 to earn All-America honors. Cheriuyot’s time was both the second fastest time by a Blue Dragon at the national championship and second-fastest time in program history.
Kiprotich and Cheruiyot are the first Top 10 Blue Dragon finishers since Teegan Flannagan placed fifth in 2020. The Blue Dragon duo became the 18th and 19th NJCAA All-Americans in program history.
Three other Blue Dragons earned NJCAA Coaches Association All-America honors (Top 40 finishes) on Saturday.
Freshman Farrin Mangelson placed 21st with a time of 24:28.3. His time was the eighth-fastest by a Blue Dragon at nationals and the eighth-fastest 8K time in team history.
Freshman Cornelius Kogo was 28th at nationals. His season’s best time of 24:43.1 was both the 11th fastest at nationals and in program history.
Freshman Thaddeus Rotich placed 33rd overall with a time of 24:57.0. That mark was the 13th-best nationals time by a Blue Dragon and 14th overall in program history.
Freshman Kaden Lohrentz placed 78th with a time of 26:08.4 and sophomore David Ultreras was 79th with a time of 26:09.6.