Cross Country/Track & Field | 11/15/2024 10:45:00 AM
Richmond, VA - The Neosho County Men's and Women's Cross Country teams finished their season at the NJCAA Cross Country and Half Marathon Championships. This meet is the pinnacle of the season for any team in the country and both teams did not flinch at the opportunity having historic performances at the Championships.
The women ran the fastest ever team time at a National Championship for a NCCC team and the second fastest team time ever run by a Panther team. The team was led by
Wendy Komane with her second best time all time in 20:50 over the 5k course, following her were 3 straight Pr's for the Panthers in
Melania Turaga (21:02),
Barbara Gurrola (21:39),
Vilorina Tuilawaki (21:41). All 4 of these ladies put themselves in the top 13 all time in Neosho County history with their performances. The women finished 25th overall at the Championships and earning a top 25 ranking to finish off the season.
On the men's side the Panthers were led by Freshman Standout
Noah Laird who finished the 8k course in 27:07, moving himself into 5th all time at Neosho. Following closely behind and moving into the 7th position all-time was
Tristan Hickman in 27:20,the third member of the team to cross the line was
Jaden Perry in 27:52, who sets 10th all time at Neosho. The men's team finished 27th over and finished by improving on their best team time of the season by 23 seconds per person and finishing as the second fastest team ever for Neosho.
The men and women's teams followed up the XC performance with outstanding performances in the Half-Marathon Championships 3 days later. Men finishing 25th overall and the Women 17th. It the second fastest team ever for the men and women in the half-marathon.
"This was by far the best performances I have had from my teams at the National Championships, we got better in every area and competed very well against the Nations best. It is easy to have a little bit of a let down at Nationals because of the moment and magnitude of things, this team did not flinch and put our best foot out there. We couldn't have done much more in any aspect of the Championships and proved we deserved to be out there. It was truely amazing to see where we came from on day 1, on paper that day we may have been one of the worst teams I had ever had, we got better every day and made the most improvement that I have ever seen from one of my teams. I could not be more proud of what this team did this year." Said Head Coach
Trey Bruton of the National Championships.
