HAYS — The Barton Community College men’s and women’s cross-country teams traveled to Hays on Saturday to participate in the Fort Hays State Tiger Open.
The meet featured more than 225 runners on the men’s side and more than 150 runners for the women. The Barton men finished 19th as a team while the women had three runners and did not compile a team total.
“Overall it was a very good day for us,” Barton head cross-country coach Parker Cowles said. “There were a lot of seasonal and personal bests for our team. Both the men and women did a lot of things right and over the last half of the race both teams were passing people and moving up the field.”
On the men’s side, nationally-ranked NCAA Division-II school Adams State College ran away with the meet with a team total of 33. Nebraska-Kearney was second with 76 and Fort Hays placed third with 106. Colby turned in the top 2-year school placing, taking fourth with 134 points. The Barton men finished 7th among community colleges with 591 points.
Barton was paced by Tyler Lumpkin, who ran the 8K course in a time of 27:30.5 for 142nd place overall out of the 226 runners at the meet. Barton freshman and Great Bend native Chon Chavez was close behind Lumpkin, finishing in 27:37.2.
“Chon Chavez and Tyler Lumpkin both had great runs,” Cowles said. “They worked together and really ran tough through the final mile of the race.”
Another Great Bend native, freshman Genesis Rose, was next for the Cougars, finishing with a time of 29:32.4. Freshman Zach Wilson of Larned ran a 31:14.3 and Josh Watson rounded out the Cougars with a time of 31:29.6.
Naseem Hage of Adams State won the meet with a time of 24:19.1.
For the women, Adams State also took team honors with a total of 54 points, just ahead of Pittsburg State, which took second with 59 points. Nebraska-Kearney was third with 72 points.
Hutchinson was the top community college with 277 points, taking 10th overall.
Regan Mullen ran the 5,000-meter course in a time of 17:45.18 to win the individual title.
The Lady Cougars were paced by Tabitha Kim, who finished 124th out of 168 runners in a time of 21:46.62. She was followed closely by Jenna Schroeder with a time of 21:50.91. Freshman Kaycee Niermeier of Hoxie was the final Barton runner to finish in a time of 24:41.8.
Barton will take part in the Bethel Invitational on Friday at North Newton before heading off to the NJCAA Region VI Championships later this month in Hutchinson.