DRAGONS TIED FOR 11TH AFTER DAY 1 AT NJCAA GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS
Golf | 05.15.12
NEWTON – Freshman Ben Cotton shot a 1-over-par 73 on Tuesday to lead the 11th-ranked Hutchinson Community College men’s golf team on Day 1 of the 2012 NJCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships at Sand Creek Station.
The Blue Dragons shot and up-and-down round of 303 and is tied with Jayhawk Conference rival Johnson County for 11th in the 23-team field after the first of four rounds. Hutchinson is just 11 strokes off the lead pack of No. 3 Western Texas, No. 4 Indian Hills and No. 13 Midland College.
Cotton had an opening round of five birdies, three bogies and a double bogey to shooting a 73 on Tuesday. He is part of a six-way tie for 18th place at 1-over par, Cotton is six strokes off the lead of Indian Hills’ Jon Paul Blampied, who carded a 5-under 67 to grab the individual lead on Tuesday,
Cotton got off to a red-hot start with birdies on his first two and three of his first four holes. He made the turn at 2-under par, but gave those strokes back with a double-bogey on No. 10, a hole known as “The Beast.”
Sophomore Mike Muller is tied for 46th after a 4-over par 76. Muller had three bogeys on the front and three more bogeys and two birdies on the back nine, scoring birdies on Nos. 16 and 17.
Sophomore Ryley Haas, who one year ago led the national tournament after 36 holes, is tied for 55th after a six-over 77. Haas played from behind all day after a triple-bogey 8 on No. 2. He had birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to mix in with four bogeys.
Freshman Mason Varner rode a roller coaster on the front nine with two double-bogeys, two bogeys and two birdies to make the turn at 4-over. He finished at 5-over 77 and is tied with Haas and seven others for 55th place.
The Blue Dragons threw out Freshman Trey Haden’s 81. He is tied with four others for 101st.
Blue Dragon tee times for Tuesday’s second round: Hayden, 9:30 a.m.; Varner, 9:38 a.m.; Muller, 9:46 a.m.; Cotton, 9:54 a.m. and Haas, 10:02 a.m.
(HCC Sports Information
COTTRELL FINISHES THIRD IN MEN’S HAMMER ON DAY 1 OF NJCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
Track | 05.15.12
LEVELLAND, Texas – Sophomore Weston Cottrell got the Region VI/Jayhawk West champion Hutchinson Community College men’s track and field team off to a great start on Tuesday at the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships at South Plains College.
Cottrell posted a personal best and the third-best hammer throw in Blue Dragon history to finish third in the nation on Day 1 of the three-day championship event. Cottrell had only one good throw on Tuesday in six attempts, but made it count with a distance of 178 feet, 6 inches, which came on his second attempt in the preliminary round.
The Blue Dragons had three qualifiers in the hammer. Robert Dunn finished 13th overall with a top throw of 157-1. Freshman Skylar Arneson fouled on all three throws in the preliminaries.
After the first day in the NJCAA Decathlon, HCC’s Blake Withrow, the Region VI champion, is ninth after five events with 3,124 points. Karson Becker is 12th in the field of 16 with 2,988 points.
Withrow totaled 677 points in the 100 meters with a time of 11.87 seconds, 604 points in the long jump with a distance of 19-11 1/2, 560 points in the shot put with a throw of 36-10 1/2, 610 points in the high jump after clearing 5-10 and 673 points in the 400 meters with a time of 53.21 seconds.
Becker scored 655 points in the 100 meters with a time of 11.98 seconds, scored 527 points in the long jump at 18 feet, 9 ¼ inches; 497 points in the shot put at 33-5 ¼, 636 points in the high jump after clearing 5-11 ¼ and 673 points after a time of 53.19 seconds in the 400 meters.
Only one HCC women’s national qualifier competed on Tuesday.
Emily Yoder finished 12th in the women’s hammer after a throw of 136 feet, 8 inches.
The completion of the Decathlon, selection field event finals and track preliminaries will take place on Wednesday during Day 2 of the championships.
(HCC Sports Information
BLUE DRAGONS STAY ALIVE IN SUB-REGIONAL, WILL MEET PANTHERS IN FINALS
Baseball | 05.06.12
CHANUTE – The Hutchinson Blue Dragons hit four home runs and remained alive in the Region VI Tournament Chanute Sub-Regional on Sunday.
Hutchinson dropped to the loser’s bracket after dropping a 3-1 decision to sub-regional top-seed Neosho County in the first game on Sunday. The Blue Dragons then responded as Tucker Cross, Grant Dunnegan, B.B. Kimbrell and Tanner Lubach homered in a 12-7 victory over Highland in the losers’ bracket final at Neosho County’s Hudson Field.
The Blue Dragons (40-16) will now play Neosho County (44-14) in the sub-regional championship game at 1 p.m. on Monday. The Blue Dragons, just as they did two years ago when they finished third at the NJCAA World Series, will have to defeat the Panthers twice on Monday to advance to the Central District Championship Tournament at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita next weekend.
The Blue Dragons reached 40 wins for the sixth time in program history, the second time under head coach Kyle Crookes.
GAME 2 RECAP – HUTCHINSON 12, HIGHLAND 7
Sophomore Toby Cornejo went 4 for 5 with three RBIs and the Blue Dragons had a season-high four homers to help keep the season going for at least another day while eliminating the Scotties with a 12-7 victory in the loser’s bracket final.
Since a four-run third inning against Highland in the opening game on Saturday, the Dragons went 11-straight innings without scoring and scored just one over a 16-inning stretch in the sub-regional. That changed in the third inning against the Scotties on Sunday when Cornejo hit a sharply hit grounder off the leg of Highland starter Josh Glenn that allowed Christian Cox to score the game’s first run.
HCC went on to score at least one run in five of its final six at-bats in pounding out 13 hits, seven for extra bases, against eight Highland pitchers.
Cornejo tied a career high with four hits, including a double, three RBIs, two stolen bases and two runs to power the Blue Dragons offensively. Lubach was 3 for 5, pounding a double and a three-run home run in Hutchinson’s five-run sixth inning. Lubach had four RBIs. Cross was 2 for 4 with a home run. Seven of HCC’s nine offensive starters had at least one hit.
Highland out-hit HCC, pounding out a season-high 16 hits off four Blue Dragon pitchers. Thomas Anderson (1-1) earned his first Blue Dragon victory, tossing 2 1-3 innings in relief.
Hutchinson surrendered two leads in the game.
The Blue Dragons led 3-0 after four innings – Cornejo’s RBI single in the third and solo home runs by Cross and Dunnegan in the fourth. The Scotties scored three runs in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 3-all. HCC led 5-3 after five innings when Cornejo doubled in Justin Harris and scored in a error. But the Scotties answered right back with two in the top of the sixth to knot the game at 5-all.
The Dragons took their third lead in the sixth when Kimbrell led off the inning with a solo home run to right center. Cornejo drove in his third run with a bunt single and then Lubach launched a three-run bomb down the left-field line to give HCC a 10-5 lead.
GAME 1 RECAP – NEOSHO COUNTY 3, HUTCHINSON 1
The Blue Dragons struck out a season-high 14 times, 13 against Neosho County starter Matt Strahm, as the Panthers defeated HCC 3-1 in the winner’s bracket final in the first game on Sunday, snapping the Blue Dragons’ season-long 10-game winning streak.
Strahm and HCC starter Jean Acevedo were locked in a pitcher’s duel through the first four innings. Acevedo retired the first 12 Neosho County batters he faced. Strahm struck out 10 Blue Dragons over his first five innings.
Neosho County finally broke on top with an unearnred run in the top of the fifth and added two more runs in the sixth off Acevedo, who pitched well for the fifth-straight start.
Acevedo (5-5) pitched 6 1-3 innings, allowing only four hits and three runs; two were unearned, with two strikeouts in taking the loss. Acevedo was victimized by two huge errors. Sophomore Devon Brogan pitched 2 2-3 innings in relief with four strikeouts and a walk.
But Strahm was tough working eight innings with 13 strikeouts and allowing only five hits, one earned run and two walks.
The Blue Dragons had their opportunities in the sixth innings. Already down 3-0, Cornejo and then tried to score all the way from first on a Lubach double to right-center field, but was thrown out at the plate. Three batters later, the Blue Dragons missed tying the game by about two feet as Kimbrell doubled high off the right-field wall to score Lubach, but the Dragons couldn’t score any more in the inning and trailed 3-1.
Kimbrell was 2 for 3 with a double and RBI to lead HCC, which out-hit Neosho County 5-4.
GAME NOTES – The 2012 Blue Dragons tied the 2001 team for the fifth-most victories in team history. … Toby Cornejo extended his career-long hitting streak to 12 games and B.B. Kimbrell extended his hitting streak to six games. … Lubach’s homer was his team-high 13th of the season. Kimbrell and Dunnegan hit their third each and Cross hit his second inning. … The Dragons struck out 20 times on Sunday and have fanned 29 in the sub-regional. … The Blue Dragons are hitting 9 for 35 with four RBIs with runners in scoring position in the sub-regional.
(HCC Sports Information)
BLUE DRAGON MEN CAPTURE REGION VI, JAYHAWK WEST CHAMPIONSHIPS
Track | 05.05.12
The day couldn’t go fast enough for the Hutchinson Community College men’s track and field team on Saturday at the Region VI Outdoor Championships at Gowans Stadium.
With Coffeyville making a charge at the Blue Dragons throughout Saturday, the final four events became tense for HCC. But when the end of the day finally arrived, it came with a refreshing celebration dip in the steeplechase pit for HCC head coach Pat Becher and his staff as the Blue Dragon men captured the first Region VI team championship since 1996.
Not only did Hutchinson win the third Region VI championship under Becher’s guidance, the Blue Dragons also repeated as Jayhawk West champions, nearly doubling their point total over second-place Barton.
Hutchinson scored 135 points in the Region VI standings, putting an exclamation point on the victory with an emphatic win in the 4x400-meter relay. As anchorman Julio Martinez crossed the finish line, the Blue Dragons started the celebration and it continued during a victory lap that ended with Becher going into the drink. Coffeyville was second with 121.5 points and Johnson County was third with 119 points.
Leading by 26 points entering the final day of competition on Saturday, the Blue Dragons scored multiple points in the discus, high jump, pole vault and 3,000-meter steeplechase. HCC scored in 11 of 16 scored events on Saturday.
The day started off nicely as Hutchinson scored eight points from three athletes in the discus. Skylar Arneson placed fourth with a throw of 153 feet. Brandon Koeningsman was seventh at 145 feet, 4 inches and Robert Dunn placed eighth at 143-6.
Spencer Amerin then raised the ante on the field when he captured the regional championship in the high jump with a personal-best 6 feet, 11 3/4 inches, the fourth-best high jump in Blue Dragon men’s history. HCC made it 15 points in the high jump when Cody Howell placed fifth, clearing 6-5 1/2.
HCC garnered 11 points in the pole vault as Lex Parson placed second after clearing 15 feet, 4 1/2 inches. Dakota Becker placed was sixth with a personal-best 14-10 3/4.
Hutch earned eight points from the 3,000-meter steeplechase after Nic Rogers placed fourth in a time of 10 minutes, 18.68 seconds. Kyle Sooter was sixth in 10:33.43.
The 4x400-meter relay team of Paul Hatch, Juwan Cubit, Skylar Gutierrez and Martinez closed the championship out in style, going into the race seeded seventh and winning with a time of 3:19.19. Hatch set an early pace, but even as Cloud County pressed the Blue Dragons on each leg, Cubit, Gutierrez and Martinez each held off the challenges with very strong final 50 meters in each leg.
Martinez scored big individually with a third-place showing in the 800 meters, posting a personal-best time of 1:54.18, which ranks as the sixth-best time in program history.
Sprinter Cordarrelle Patterson finished third in the 200 meters with a time of 21.28 seconds. He was fifth in the 100 meters in a time of 10.64 seconds.
Robert Whitfield placed sixth in the triple jump at 46-7 1/4. Hatch was eighth in the 400 meters in a time of 50.22 seconds. Brandon Massey placed eighth in the 1,500 meters in a time of 4:10.12.
The Blue Dragons will take 21 men’s qualifiers to the NJCAA Outdoor National Championships which will begin next week in Levelland, Texas.
(HCC Sports Information)
HEISSLER POWERS BLUE DRAGONS PAST HIGHLAND IN SUB-REGIONAL OPENER
Baseball | 05.05.12
CHANUTE – Sophomore Jake Heissler struck out a career-high 10 batters and moved into the single-season Top 10 in pitching victories as the Hutchinson Community College baseball team defeated Highland 4-2 in the opening game of the Chanute Sub-Regional of the 2012 Region VI Baseball Tournament.
The Blue Dragons (39-15), winners of a season-high 10 consecutive games, will play sub-regional top-seed Neosho County (43-14) in the winner’s bracket final at 1 p.m. Sunday in Chanute. Neosho County defeated Butler 5-1 in the second opening-round game on Friday. Highland then eliminated Butler 9-8 in 12 innings in the elimination game.
Heissler (9-1) worked a career-high eight innings to earn his 11th career victory, which ties seven other pitchers for 13th on the career wins list. The sophomore right hander set an early tone, striking out 3 of Highland’s first 4 batters. After giving up a home run in the third inning and a single run in the fourth inning, Heissler went on to retire 14 straight Scotties.
Heissler allowed four hits and two earned runs and walked just one over his eight innings of work. His ninth victory of the season ties Heissler with five other pitchers who are tied for eighth on the single-season list.
Closer Jace James earned his 10th save of the season, striking out one and allowing one hit. James is now third on the single-season saves list.
Highland took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when Taylor Holz hit a solo home run.
The Blue Dragons answered in the bottom of the third against Highland starter Jared Hawkins. Toby Cornejo tied the games with a one-out double that scored Todd Schultz all the way from first base. After Christian Cox walked, Tucker Cross doubled to right-center that plated two runs for a 3-1 lead. Two batters later, Brad Law singled up the middle to score Cross for a 4-1 lead.
The Scotties produced a run in the top of the fourth to cut the Hutchinson lead to 4-2, before Heissler clamped down and retired 14 straight batters.
Hutchinson had one six hit against two Highland pitchers.
Cornejo tied a career high by extending his hitting streak to 10-striaght games by going 2 for 3 to lead the Blue Dragons. Cross, Grant Dunnegan, Law and Michael Scott each had hits.
Alex Head had two of Highland’s five hits.
GAME NOTES – The 2012 Blue Dragons are tied for sixth for most wins in a season with the 2008 and 2010 teams. … Michael Scott extended his career-best hitting streak to eight games. … The Blue Dragons were without starting catcher Tanner Lubach and Kyle Crookes, who were both suspended for the Highland game.
(HCC Sports Information)
