Men's cross country first in region, women fourth
Five Trojans run to all-region
The Trojan men finished first, and the women took fourth in the NJCAA Region VI Championships Saturday at the Meadow Lake Golf Course in Colby.
Five runners for the men finished in the top 20. It marks the program's first region crown since 2014, and they accomplished the feat this time with a roster comprised of freshmen.
Three Trojans finished the 8K course in the top 15 to earn All-Region VI honors. Colby's top individual was Ricardo Barbosa, who placed fifth with a time of 24:38.39. Sanele Masondo earned 10th after clocking a 25:15.51, while Remi Chavenaud ran to a 13th-place finish in 25:40.85.
"I thought the men's team did a great job on buying into a team mentality and making a team championship their top goal," said Head Coach Brady Johnson. "Colby has such a great history of cross country success, so to get back to winning team championships and to do it in Colby is a great milestone for our program and hopefully can springboard us into consistent championship contention."
The Trojan women also enjoyed running at home. Due to scheduling and various circumstances, Saturday was the first time all season the whole team competed in a 5k race.
"It was nice to finally put a full squad together and still place fairly well in the region," Johnson said.
Sophomores Regan Hodsden and Cierra Nord earned all-region recognition after Hodsden was the runner up with a time of 19:18.28 and Nord ran a 20:27.72, good for 15th place.
"I was really happy for Regan and Cierra," Johnson said. "For them to run well at this meet and to both finish with all-region honors was a great accomplishment and shows the growth they've made since their first day on campus."
CCC hopes to continue the momentum on Nov. 13 at the 2021 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Richmond, Va.