Football team finishes regular season with big win: Sports Roundup

By Adam Kolb / Co-Sports Editor

The No. 6 Hutchinson Community College football teams rebounded from last week’s one point loss to Garden City, with a 56-0 statement victory at No. 19 Iowa Central Community College on Saturday.

Offensively, the Blue Dragons had 344 total yards. Quarterback Mark Wright combined for 193 yards with three combined touchdowns. Tray Pettway caught a pair of touchdown passes and the Blue Dragons even blocked a punt for a touchdown in the second straight week.

Defensively, the Blue Dragons limited Iowa Central to just 147 yards, and had 15 tackles for loss, five sacks, and tow takeaways. The Blue Dragons are 4-2 against ranked competition and 9-2 overall. They will await an opponent for the 2019 Salt City Bowl on December 7 at Gownas Stadium.

Men’s cross country – Sophomore cross country runners Andrew Kibet and Sylvestre Kibarar cemented a successful Blue Dragon legacy on Saturday at the NJCAA Division 1 Cross Country Championships at the University of New Mexico’s North Course. Both runners finished in the top 10 and helped the Blue Dragon men to a second straight top 10 finish, and the 16th top 10 finish in team history.

After winning the NJCAA individual championship as a freshman, Kibet became the first Blue Dragon in team history to become a two-time NJCAA All-American with a fourth-place performance in a time of 24:08. Kibarar finished with a seventh place showing of 24:29, becoming the second Blue Dragon All-American. 

Overall, the Blue Dragons finished seventh.

Women’s cross country – Sophomore Sheila Too continued her consistent ways on Saturday and was the top runner for the women’s cross country team at the NJCAA Division 1 Championships at the University of New Mexico’s North Course.

Too finished 50th overall to lead the Blue Dragons to a 20th-place showing. Hutchinson had 541 points, and were the fifth best Jayhawk Conference team. This is the 19th time the Blue Dragons have finished in the top 20.

Volleyball – The volleyball team’s season came to an end on Sunday at the Region 6 Tournament semifinals. Outside hitter Katelyn Elstun finished out a good freshman season with 12 kills and three total blocks. Sophomore Ebani Sapien had 17 assists, while freshman Alisa Bautista had 12 digs. Sophomore Eden Heibert finished with five kills, freshman Jenna Thorne had four kills, and freshman Jaydin Schalke had six total blocks.

Hutchinson closes its season at 14-19.

Men’s basketball – On Saturday at the Atrium Classic at the Sports Arena, the No. 10 ranked Blue Dragons defeated Labette 100-54. Hutch led at halftime, 43-13, shooting 13 of 32 from the field with three 3-pointers. Labette was just 5 of 39 with eight turnovers in the opening half.

The Blue Dragons were balanced with six players scoring in double figures. Josh Usery led in points off the bench with a team high 17 points. Tyler Brown finished with 13 points, three steals, and two assists, while Saquan Singleton finished with a team high nine rebounds.

Golf – The men’s golf team had its highest ranking of the 2019-2020 season thanks to two team victories in the final three tournaments of the fall season. Hutchinson won both the Kansas City Fall Invitational and Park University Tournament and then closed the fall season with a fifth-place showing at the NJCAA National Preview in Odessa, Texas. The Blue Dragons had four top-five finishes in five fall tournaments this season.

Overall, the Blue Dragons complete the fall season ranked in a tie for third place in the latest rankings. The Dragons are No.4 in the Bushnell/GolfWeek Division 1 NJCAA Rankings.

The Blue Dragons will open the 2020 spring season at the Luc Chap Classic March 9-10 in Lubbock, Texas.

Women’s basketball- Sophomore Abby Ogle posted a triple double and set a program single-game record for steals as the No. 7 ranked Hutchinson Community College women’s basketball team set numerous records against the Hesston Larks in the 127-37 victory. Hutchinson set seven single-game records against the Larks including most points in a game with 127, most points through three quarters-100, margin of victory-90, made field goals-54, team steals-33, and forced turnovers-49. Ogle scored a career high 29 points and dished out a career high eight assists to go along with 12 steals, which breaks Brenna McClure’s 2016 steals record.

Hutchinson’s 60. Percent shooting for the game is the sixth best single game shooting percentage in team history. The Blue Dragons improve to 4-0 heading into the Cougar Booster Club Classic this weekend in Great Bend with Liberal on Friday and Jefferson College on Saturday.

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