Hutchinson CC Sports Information

HOBBS, NM – The Hutchinson Community College men's track and field team got off to a slow start on Thursday at the 2019 NJCAA Division I Track and Field Championships.

Only the Blue Dragon 4x800 relay produced points on Day 1 of the championship, while several other performances were right off the medal stand.

The relay team of Brett Hillabrand, Connor Kaufman, Tony Ibarra and Jason Luft finished eighth on Thursday with a time of 8:03.18 scoring one point in the team standings for the Blue Dragons. The relay entered the championship ranked No. 12 in the NJCAA.

Elijah Fisher finished 10th in the long jump on Thursday with a PR in the event. Ranked 14th in the NJCAA coming into Thursday. Fisher went a personal-best 24 feet, 1 1/2 inches to finish 10th in a very strong field. Fisher ties Dennis Perry (1962) for the eighth-best long jump in Blue Dragon history.

Sophomore Myles Hansen placed 10th in the pole vault. He cleared 14 feet, 1 1/4 inches on Thursday.

Sophomore Jared Stark finished 15th in the 10,000-meter final Thursday night. His time of 34:44.70

Coming up on Friday for the Blue Dragons:

+ Andrew Kibet puts his No. 1 national ranking on the line in the 1,500-meter preliminaries. Kibet's Region VI Championship time of 3:47.89 is the best this season and ninth fastest in NJCAA history.

+ Joining Kibet in the 1,500 is Hillabrand, who posted a qualifying time of 3:58.02.

+ Sylvetre Kibarar looks to improve his No. 4 national ranking in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Kibarar's qualifying time of 9:22.33. Jeffrey Klopf will also compete in the Steeplechase.

+ Brock Appiah will run in the 100-meter preliminaries.

+ The Blue Dragon 4x400 relay runs its preliminary heat on Friday.