By STEVE CARPENTER - Hutchinson CC Sports Information
ARKANSAS CITY – Sophomore Teagan Flanagan became the second Hutchinson Community College men's track and field athlete to qualify for the 2021 NJCAA Outdoor Championships on Saturday.
Flanagan won the Cowley Tiger Invitational 5,000 meters on Saturday to lead 16 Blue Dragon placers. Five Blue Dragon athletes, including Flanagan, earned NJCAA Top 20 marks for the season.
Flanagan, a three-time NJCAA Track and Cross Country All-American, won the Tiger Invitational 5,000 meters with a time of 14 minutes, 48.39 seconds. Flanagan posted the third-fastest time in the 5,000 in the nation this season and fourth-fastest 5,000 time in Blue Dragon Men's Outdoor history.
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Flanagan also placed second on Saturday in the 1,500 meters with a time of 4:02.71. That is the 12th-fastest time in the NJCAA this season.
Sophomore sprinter Jared Scott ran the sixth-fastest time in the NJCAA this season in the 100 meters this season with a season-low 10.37 seconds in a fourth-place showing at Cowley.
Flanagan and Scott are the two Blue Dragons who have qualified for the NJCAA outdoor championships in May.
High jumpers Zach Biel and Wyatt Thiel finished second and third, respectively on Saturday. Both Blue Dragons cleared season bests of 6 feet, 6 inches, which ties for fifth in the NJCAA this season.
Antonio Cooper placed fifth in the Tiger Invite shot put with a top distance of 48-0.75. That mark is ninth in the NJCAA in 2021. Cooper also finished eighth in the discus with a threw of 123-4.
Other top performances by the Blue Dragons on Saturday were:
+ All-American Erick Johnson was the Tiger Invitational runner-up in the triple jump with a leap of 43-0.5.
+ Three Blue Dragons played in the pole vault. Jake Eck was third at 12 feet, 8 inches. Simon Steinert was fourth at 12-2 and Raul Oduna was seventh at 11-2.25.
+ Cameron Delaney played fourth in the 3,000-meter Steeplechase with a time of 10:35.02. Aaron Geissinger was sixth in the steeplechase in 11:03.13.
+ Matthew Schrag placed fifth in the 5,000 meters in a time of 17:11.07.
+ Carson Radford placed seventh in the long jump with a top jump of 20-3.
+ Cody Flax was seventh in the shot put at 38-6.75.
+ Brennon Heckel placed eighth in the javelin with a throw of 118-4.