DRAGON SPRINTERS HAVE HUGE DAY IN NEBRASKA
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
CRETE, Neb. – Hutchinson Community College sprinters Jared Scott and Brock Appiah went 1-2 in two different events on Saturday as the Blue Dragon track and field team competed at the Fred Beile Classic at Doane University's Fuhrer Fieldhouse.
Scott and Appiah highlighted five new Blue Dragon qualifiers for the NJCAA Indoor Championships in March in Pittsburg. Hutchinson now has 10 qualifiers through two indoor meets.
The day started with Scott and Appiah finishing 1-2 in the 60-meter finals. Scott had a time of 6.87 seconds and Appiah's was 6.92 seconds. Denilson Whitmore placed fifth in 7.02 seconds.
Those three then swept the top three spots in the 200 meters with Appiah joining the growing list of NJCAA Indoor national qualifiers. Already a national qualifier, Scott improved is 200 time to 21.56 seconds, which ranks third on the Blue Dragon indoor list. Appiah qualified with a second-place time of 21.96 seconds, which is eighth on the Blue Dragon indoor charts. Whitmore was third 22.46 seconds.
The Blue Dragons earned four more national qualifiers on Saturday to bring the season total to 10.
The Dragons picked up two new qualifiers in the 1,000 meters. Freshman Brett Hillabrand finished second with a time of 2:32.88. Connor Kaufman earned his second individual national qualification with a seventh-place finish in 2:33.78.
Also earning a second national qualification is freshman Sylvestre Kibarar, who punched his ticket in the mile run. Kibarar placed second in the mile with a time of 4:26.60. Kibarar also won the Beile 3,000 meters in 9:03.91. Kibarar is already qualified in the 3,000.
Already qualified, the Blue Dragon 4x400 relay was Hutchinson's other event winner on Saturday. The relay team of Dusty Torres, Denilson Whitmore, Donovan Whitmore and Elijah Smith won with a time of 3:21.43, the sixth-fastest time in Hutch indoor history.
Hutchinson will split teams next week, going both to the Gorilla Indoor Classic in Pittsburg and the Highland Invitational in Highland.