FORT DODGE, Iowa — The Barton Community College cross-country teams put to bed the 2013 season on Saturday afternoon with the running of the NJCAA Championships.
The Cougars placed 36th at the event with Tyler Lumpkin leading the way.
The women did not field a full team, taking three runners to the meet with Jenna Schroeder coming across the finish line first for Barton.

MEN — The men’s title was won by Central Arizona College, defending its title from last season.
The Vaqueros finished with 38 to win the sixth title in school history, placing five runners in the Top 20. Iowa Central placed second with 53 points. South Plains was a distant third with 98 points.
Central Arizona’s Harry Mulenga won the individual title with a time of 24:39.5 over the 8K course. Iowa Central’s Frankline Tonui and Tahir Chakisso took second and third with Todd Jackson of Central Arizona taking fourth.
The highest-finishing runner from Region VI was Cloud County’s Benard Keter, taking fifth in a time of 25:27.0.
Allen County was the highest-placing team from the region, taking sixth overall with 210 points, followed by Colby in seventh with 223.
The Cougars took 36th overall with 1,012 points.
“We got a little bit lost in the crowd,” first-year head coach Parker Cowles said. “This was the largest meet we have seen all year, and for a lot of this young team, it was a bit overwhelming. We’ll take that experience and grow for next year.”
For the Cougars, Lumpkin ran a good race, finishing 131st out of the 300 runners in the meet. Lumpkin finished with a time of 28:20.
“It was nice to see Tyler Lumpkin finish off his cross-country career at Barton with such a strong performance,” Cowles said. “I thought he did a great job of really working the middle of the race, and accelerating throughout. He showed real aptitude as a racer and I can’t wait to see what he can do on the track.”
It was a ways back before the next Barton runner crossed the finish line in 243rd when Great Bend freshman Genesis Rose came across with a time of 30:37.5.
Fellow Great Bend freshman Chon Chavez struggled over the race’s last half-mile, coming in 250th with a time of 31:01.3. Zach Wilson of Larned was close behind in a time of 31:42.0. Adam Kelsey ran 32:44.5 to round out the team scoring while Brady Holler ran 34:05.0 for Barton as well.

WOMEN — Iowa Central made it three straight national titles on the women’s side, putting five runners in the Top 20.
The Tritons rolled to the team title with 41 points, well ahead of runner-up Central Arizona, which finished with 98 points. Gillette (Wyo.) College was a distant third with 173.
Hanna Maina from Iowa Central won the event, running on her home course with a time of 18:12.6 over the 5K layout. Betsy Douglas of Spartanburg Methodist (S.C.) was second while Iowa Central’s Aden Alemu was third.
The Tritons placed three runners in the top nine finishers.
From Region VI, the highest finisher was Danae McGee from Allen County, placing 10th overall in 18:49.3. Johnson County was the highest-placing team from the region taking 10th as well with a team total of 364. Butler was 15th.
Jenna Schroeder ran a good race for Barton, finishing 137th out of the 280 runners. Schroeder ran a 21:04.9 to place in the top half of the race.
Tabatha Kim finished 195th with a time of 21:54.5 and Kaycee Niermeier ran 25:19.2 for 263rd place at the event.
For Cowles, who took over the program after the season started, he saw a lot of improvement from his athletes.
“It’s not easy to have a change in coaches in the middle of the season,” Cowles said. “These athletes have done a great job in adapting and adjusting to a different style of training. I saw a lot of improvement in performance over the course of my one month here, and we’ll try to carry that momentum into the indoor season.”