JANIC QUALIFIES FOR NATIONALS IN HURDLES

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

CRETE, Neb. – Defending NJCAA Indoor 60-meter hurdles national champion Adriana Janic will get a chance to defend her title in March after she punched her ticket to the 2018 indoor championships on Saturday at the Fred Beile Classic at Doane University.

Now a double NJCAA qualifier, Janic led a good day for the Blue Dragons, who had 26 PRs on Saturday.

On Saturday, Janic posted the top 60-meter hurdle preliminary time of 9.06 seconds, which surpassed the NJCAA qualifying standard of 9.32 seconds. Janic did not run in the finals. Janic's time was the eighth fastest in the NJCAA this season.

Janic gives Hutchinson four national qualifiers through four indoor meets this season.

Sophomore Maggie Lambert finished third on Saturday in the 1-mile run with a time of 5:41.6. That third-place time was the seventh fastest in Blue Dragon history. Right behind Lambert was freshman Aileen Gomez, who finished fifth in 5:45.09.

Lambert, Gomez and freshman Macy Linnenberger all ran the 3,000 meters and placed in the Top 8. Gomez was third in 11:39.05, Lambert was fourth in 11:56.75 and Linnenberger was sixth in 12:22.85.

Freshman Sarah Patteson had a PR in the 1,000 meters, improving her season's best time of 3:15.34, which ranks sixth in Blue Dragon history. Just three places back was freshman Saw Ahmara, whose ninth-place time of 3:19.44 was the seventh-fastest in Blue Dragon history.

Freshman sprinter Tatyana Hopkins placed third in the 60 meters with a time of 7.96 seconds. She had the second-fastest preliminary time of 7.93 seconds.

Freshman Destini Mathis was eighth in the triple jump at 33 feet, 2 inches.

A pair of freshmen were in the Top 5 of the 800 meters. Caitlin Schlickau was fourth in 2:35.01. Hannah Schultz was fifth in 2:37.36.

The Blue Dragons will split up next Saturday. Part of the team will compete at the Gorilla Relays in Pittsburg and the rest will head to the Highland Indoor Invitational in Highland.