Conference conquerors: Golf team snags Jayhawk title

By Amanda Carney
Co-Sports Editor

Rain wiped out the final round of the Jayhawk Conference Championship, the third and final league tournament of the season, but the rain didn’t wash out Hutchinson Community College’s conference championship dreams.

The tournament was shortened to 36 holes, due to rain that started just a few minutes into the final round. The ninth-ranked Blue Dragons team won the tournament and clinched the 2019 league championship.

Blue Dragon freshman Charlie Crockett was the 2019 Jayhawk individual champion and five Blue Dragons overall earned all-conference honors.

Winning all three tournaments, the Blue Dragons amassed 28 points in the team standings.

Crockett, a freshman from England, won two of the three league tournaments and finished tied for third in the other for a total of 32.5 points.

Peyton Austin, a Wichita freshman finished third overall in the season standings with 16 points.

Crockett and Austin were both first-team All-Jayhawk Conference.

Tying for the first conference tournament title, Nathan McCullogh, a freshman from Scotland, was eighth overall. Liam Debattista, a freshman from England, was ninth with eight points. McCullogh and Debattista were second-team All-Jayhawk.

Lake Leroux, a sophomore from Columbia, Missouri, was honorable mention, tying for 15th.

The Blue Dragons won the Jayhawk Championship team title with a 36-hole total of 600 (304-296). Crockett won the individual title at 2-over 144 after rounds of 74 and 70 on Monday.

Austin tied for third at 8-over 150. Austin carded rounds of 76 and 74 on Monday.

Leroux and Charlie Herbert tied for 11th at 153. Leroux had rounds of 77 and 76, while Herbert posted scores of 77 and 76.

McCulloch, Hutch’s fifth golfer for team scoring, tied for 18th with teammate Max Ontjes, who is playing as an individual, at 157. McCulloch had rounds of 77 and 80, while Ontjes had rounds of 75 and 92.

Debattista, playing as an individual, had rounds of 80 and 82 and is 30th at 162.

Two of Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball sophomores officially announced their choices of a four-year program on Wednesday.

Women’s basketball – Two of HutchCC’s women’s basketball sophomores officially announced their choices of a four-year program on Wednesday.

Dejanae Roebuck and Tia Bradshaw just so happened to pick the same school four-year school. Roebuck and Bradshaw will both play at the University of Texas-El Paso.

Roebuck, a 6-foot forward from Olathe, and Bradshaw, a 5-8 guard from Dodge City, were key contributors on Hutchinson’s 2018 and 2019 NJCAA Tournament teams. The 2019 Blue Dragons went 33-4 and advanced to the NJCAA Tournament national semifinals.

Roebuck was a third-team NJCAA All-American this season, as well as first-team All-Jayhawk West and All-Region 6. She was the leading scorer for Hutchinson with 15 points per game, and the seventh-leading scorer in the Jayhawk Conference. She was 12th in the league in rebounding at 7.3 rebounds per game

Roebuck completed her Blue Dragon career as the sixth all-team leading scorer in team history with 998 points. She is the No. 3 all-time rebounder in Hutchinson women’s history with 582 boards. Roebuck also ranks sixth on the career free throw list (236), ninth in rebounding average (9.2 rebounds per game) and 10th in total field goals (359).

Bradshaw averaged 6.9 points and 2.73 assists per game as a sophomore. She shot 39.1 percent from the field and 28.1 percent from 3-point range. Bradshaw has a tremendous NJCAA Tournament, averaging 9.7 points with 10 assists and five steals.

Bradshaw completed her Blue Dragon career with 232 assists, which ranks 10th on the all-time Blue Dragon assists list.

They are the 29th and 30th players to sign with Division I programs since John Ontjes took over the program before the 2007-08 season. They are the 51st and 52nd players to move on to a four-year program under Ontjes.

Men’s basketball – Hutchinson Community College men’s basketball sophomore James Rojas picked up another All-American award on Monday.

The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) named Rojas a first-team NJCAA All-American.

Rojas led Hutchinson in scoring and was the Jayhawk Conference’s third-leading scorer at 18.8 points per game. He also averaged 5.8 rebounds per game. Rojas shot 50.5 percent from the field and hit 33.3 percent on 31 3-pointers and was a 77.0 percent free-throw shooter.

Rojas, the sophomore from Jamestown, New York and future University of Buffalo player was already named at 2019 NJCAA All-American, the 2019 Jayhawk West Player of the Year as well as first-team all-Jayhawk West and first-team All-Region VI and all-Region VI Tournament.

Rojas is the fourth Blue Dragon to earn NABC All-America honors.

Rojas did miss five games in January, but he returned and helped carry the Blue Dragons all the way on a seventh-straight Region VI Tournament championship game. In the 14 games after returning from injury, Rojas averaged 21.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He shot 51.6 percent overall and 48.6 percent from 3-point range and 81.0 percent over that span of games. Rojas was also second on the Blue Dragons in assists over that span with 39 assists and led the team with 22 teams.

Rojas ended his career as Hutchinson’s 25th all-time leading scorer with 9-5 points. His 292 career free throws are eighth most and his 77.0 percent career mark from the free-throw line ties for the eighth best in program history.

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