USTFCCCA NJCAA D1 Men’s Release | USTFCCCA NJCAA D1 Women’s Release

USTFCCCA NJCAA D2 Men’s Release | USTFCCCA NJCAA D2 Women’s Release

NEW ORLEANS, La. – Ahead of next week’s NJCAA Region 6 Cross Country Championships, the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference has seven men’s teams and six women’s teams ranked in the latest United States Cross Country Track and Field Cross Country Coaches Association NJCAA Division 1 and 2 Cross Country polls released on Wednesday, October 16th.

Of the seven men’s teams, five are ranked in the NJCAA Division 1 cross country poll including two inside the top 10 while the NJCAA Division 2 cross country poll has two KJCCC schools ranked for the first since the preseason poll. The women’s poll has five teams ranked within the NJCAA Division 1 poll which includes two ranked inside the top 10 while the Cowley women are ranked in the NJCAA Division 2 poll.

In the NJCAA Division 1 men’s cross country poll, both Butler Community College and Hutchinson Community College hold the same spots as the previous poll released two weeks ago as the Grizzlies are ranked number four with 172 total points. The Blue Dragons are just 17 points back of Butler with 155 total points to maintain their top-five ranking after making a four-spot jump in the week two poll released on October 2nd. Garden City dropped one spot in the latest poll to come in with the number 11 ranking after earning 94 total points while seeing Fort Hays Tech Northwest maintain their number 14 ranking from the previous poll (59 points) and Colby hold the number 19 ranking in the latest poll (24 points).  

The NJCAA Division 2 men’s cross country poll has Cowley Community College continuing their run inside the top 10 by being ranked number seven in this week’s poll for a second-straight week while Allen Community College climbs back into the poll after spending the past two polls as an unranked team to be ranked in a tie for 11^th with Mott Community College out of Michigan (92 points).

On the women’s side, the KJCCC is led in the NJCAA Division 1 poll by number six ranked Hutchinson Community College as the Blue Dragons earned 155 points and are just three points back of moving into the top five as New Mexico Junior College holds down the number five ranking (158 points). Butler also maintains a top-10 ranking for a third-straight poll after making a two spot jump from ninth up to seventh (133 points) as both teams will look to be contenders in next week’s Region 6 Championship meet.  Following the Grizzlies are number 13-ranked Cloud County (87 points) as the T-Birds hold their same ranking as the previous poll to move ahead of Dodge City who is now ranked 14th with 72 total points. Five points back of the Conquistadors is Garden City who is ranked number 15 with 67 total points to round out the group of KJCCC teams within the latest ranking.

Cowley is the lone representative from the conference to appear in the latest NJCAA Division 2 poll as the Tigers moved up another two spots to fifth to hold a top-five ranking for the second time this season and first time since the preseason poll which had them ranked fourth.   

With the 2024 NJCAA Region 6 Cross Country Championships set for next Friday, October 25th in Winfield, Kansas, no KJCCC are set to compete in action this week. The Championship meet will begin at 10 AM with the women’s 5K race while the men’s 8K race will take place at 11 AM at the Kansas Veterans home. Live results for the meet will be available through Black Squirrel Timing with a full preview of the championship being released on www.kjccc.org next week.