Sports roundup: Sylvester Kibarar takes second at Emporia

By Adam Kolb / Co-Sports Editor

By Bailey Pennycuff / Co-Sports Editor

For the first time in his Hutchinson Community College men’s cross country career, sophomore Sylvestre Kibarar finished as the Blue Dragons’ top runner in a race. Kibarar and fellow sophomore Andrew Kibet finished 2-3 to pace the No. 7- ranked Blue Dragons to a third-place finish at the Emporia State Invitational at Jones Park.

Kibarer was running his ninth career race for the Blue Dragons, and in his first eight, he finished behind Kibet, but that all changed on Friday at ESU. Kibarar finished second overall with a time of 26 minutes, 19:43 seconds over 8,000 meters. That was 26 seconds faster than the time he ran at Emporia State last season.

Kibet was third overall with a time of 26:46:24. Sophomore Brett Hillabrand placed 15th with a time of 28:51:37, while Jeffery Klopf had a season’s best finish of 18th with a time of 29:11:91. Matthew Schrag placed 28th with a time of 30:19:90, Zach Haxton was 38 in 31:19:65, and Jacob McElhanon was 51st in a time of 33:35:80. Austin Lorenzo was the fifth runner to figure into the Dragon score. He placed 23rd in 29:46:37.

The Blue Dragons run next in two weeks at the Fort Hays State Tiger open on October 12

Women’s cross country – Four Blue Dragons finished in the top 50 and the No. 17-ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s cross country team finished fifth at the Emporia State Invitational on Friday afternoon at Jones Park.

Sophomore Sheila Too led the way for her third straight race with a 16th place finish over 5,000 meters with a time of 21:13:48. All-American Gabby Collins placed 34th overall in a time of 22:42:90.

Sophomore Christina Bruce was 45th in a time of 23:43:99, while freshman Megan Miller was 47th in a time of 24:17:73. Freshman Brooklyn Terstriep was the fifth runner to figure into the scoring with a 58th-place finish in a time of 26:25:90. Also, freshman Natalie Schroeder was 64th with a time of 29:23:76. The Blue Dragons scored 130 team points, finishing just two point behind fourth place Cloud County.

The Blue Dragons will run at the Fort Hays State Tiger Open on October 12. 

Volleyball – The Blue Dragon volleyball team was swept by Panola College in their last match of the TJC Invitation in Tyler, Texas.

Camila Espejo and Katelyn Elstun had 27 kills together for the match; however, the fact that the team played a total of 11 matches throughout only 14 is a weighing factor that could not be overcome. Over the 14 days, they went 4-7 and 8-11 for the season.

Hutchinson travels to Dodge City on Tuesday.

The Blue Dragons hit .074 in the match. Espejo finished with 15 kills on .167 hitting to lead Hutchinson. Not only that, but she also had eight digs.

The previous Friday, Elstun had a career high of 34 kills against Missouri State-West Plain. She had 12 kills, hitting .116 for the Panola match.

Freshman setter Lainey Robertson had 18 assists and six digs, and sophomore setter Eboni Sapien had 12 assists and eight digs. Freshman libero Alissa Bautista had 16 digs.

As a team, the Blue Dragons had seven blocks.

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