Men's cross country wins FHSU Open

Women place 6th

Nehemiah Too (front) finished third overall and Wesley Banguria finished 5th as the Trojans won the Fort Hays State University Open Oct. 13 in Hays.

October 16, 2018

The Colby Community College men's cross country team took first and the women sixth in their respective divisions at the Fort Hays State University Tiger Open held Saturday in Hays.

Competing against three of the top 12 teams in the nation, the No. 6 Trojan men finished with a team score of 55. Nehemiah Too placed third with a time of 25:05.1. Wesley Banguria was fifth in 25:19.0 and Emmanuel Kipngetich ran 26:01.4, good for eighth place. Other Colby athletes competing were Caleb Carrasco (26:40.2), Mauro Arancibia (26:57.9), Tito Gonzalez (27:10.7), Austin Russell (27:33.1), Arthur Berthelin (27:44.4), Rihards Sergis (28:16.3) and Ruben Martinez (28:35.2).

In the women's race, CCC entered the day ranked No. 25 nationally. They topped No. 20 Dodge City and came within eight points of 13^th-ranked Highland and No. 16 Pratt. Mya Navarro was the first Trojan to cross the finish line with a time of 20:39.9 to earn 25^th place. Erika Alvarado (20:45.2), Allison Hiatt (20:51.8), Gaven Murphy (21:15.3), Emily Westeman (21:38.0) and Hildah Kattam (22:20.2) also completed among the top 75 runners on the 5K course.

Overall, Trojans head coach Cameron Rieth saw progress with both squads.

"I was really impressed with the way we responded to the soggy and wet course conditions," he said. "We were pleased, but we won't be content. It's a good stepping stone along the way towards bigger goals, and we still have some areas to improve upon."

The event was the final competition before both teams enter the Region VI/KJCCC Championships Oct. 27 in Winfield.