Sophomore wins two more titles, including 60-meter hurdles repeat

Adriana Janic is once again a national champ.

The sophomore proved she is one of Hutchinson Community College’s all-time greats after her impressive showing at the NJCAA Indoor National Championship. Janic, a Sweden native, repeated as 60-meter hurdle national champion, and claimed her first pentathlon national championship.

Janic is the second women’s track and field athlete to win back-to-back championships in consecutive seasons, since Esther Ikomi did it in the shot put during the 1987 and 1988 seasons.

During the 60-meter hurdle preliminaries, Janic ran the third-fastest time with a time of 8.61 seconds. She easily qualified for the finals that would ensue the next day.

Also during the first day of the national championships, Janic broke her previous Blue Dragon pentathlon record with an outstanding 3,751 points. She finished first in three of the five events, including, the 60-meter hurdles (8.6 seconds), the high jump (5 feet, 7 ¼ inch), and the 800-meter run (2:28.84). She placed third in the long jump (18 feet, 1 ½ inch), and fifth in the shot put (30 feet, 1 ½ inch).

Janic placed first by a margin of 245 points, capturing her first national championship of the weekend. The next day, she once again made history.

Janic set another school record, as she blew by the competition in the 60-meter hurdle finals with a time of 8.33 seconds, beating her previous record of 8.44.

Janic is the only athlete in Blue Dragon history to capture three national championships. She also scored 25 of Hutchinson’s 28 team points, which gave the Blue Dragon’s an 11th-place finish in the nation.

Lucas Barlow

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