HISTORICAL DAY FOR REGION VI CHAMPION BLUE DRAGONS
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
WINFIELD – The 2018 season has been historical for the Hutchinson Community College men's cross country team. On Saturday at the 2018 Region VI Championships, the Blue Dragons blew up the record books.
The No. 7-nationally ranked Blue Dragons won its first Region VI team championship since 1996 and freshman Andrew Kibet tied a school record in becoming Hutchinson's first Region VI individual champion in 37 years.
Justin Riggs, Hutchinson's fourth-year head coach was named the Region VI Coach of the Year.
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With the Region VI title, the seventh in team history, the Blue Dragons also won the 2018 Jayhawk West championship. This was Hutchinson's fourth team championship of the season.
The Blue Dragons edged Colby, 48-52 in the Region VI team standings and 36-38 in the Jayhawk West standings. Colby is the only team to defeat Hutchinson this season. This was Hutchinson's first conference championship since 2004.
Kibet continued his impressive freshman season by becoming only the third Blue Dragon to win a Region VI individual championship, the first since Bryon Lopez in 1983. Doug Proett was the first Blue Dragon to win an individual title in 1982.
Kibet ran his fastest 8,000-meter time as a Blue Dragon by tying a 42-year record owned by David Zuk (1976). Kibet's record-tying time was 24 minutes, 1.80 seconds. That time is the fastest by a Blue Dragon in a Region VI championship.
Freshman Sylvestre Kibarer posted the 10th-best 8K time in team history with a fifth-place time of 25:07.75, which was fifth in both the region and conference. That earned Kibarer both all-Region VI and all-Jayhawk West honors. Kibarer posted the fifth-best time by a Hutchinson runner in the Region VI championships.
Freshman Brett Hillabrand posted the 20th-best time in Blue Dragon history at 25:35.42 in placing eighth in the region and seventh in the conference. Hillabrand also earned all-region and all-conference honors.
Sophomore Jared Stark earned all-region honors with 14th-place region time of 26:02.34. Stark played 10th in the Jayhawk West standings.
Other Blue Dragon performances on Saturday were:
+ Gavin Alexander, a personal-best time of 26:47.77 (21st in the region; 14th in the conference).
+ Connor Kaufman, 27:09.14 (34th region; 20th conference).
+ Tony Ibarra, 27:13.15 (39th region; 23rd conference).
+ Grant Clothier, 26:16.46 (41st region); 25th conference).
+ Jason Luft, 27:33.33 (47th region; 28th conference).
+ Kade Gerlach, 28:41.33 (61st region; 34th conference).
The Blue Dragons will next run in the NJCAA Championships on November 10 in Garden City.