Trojans solid in cross country nationals
Men 3rd, women 10th
Ricardo Barbosa, Sanele Masondo and Regan Hodsden turned in All-American performances as the Colby Community College men finished 3rd and the women 10th at the NJCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday in Richmond, Va.
"I believe both teams ran very well at this meet," said Trojans Head Coach Brady Johnson. "Several of our athletes had their best race of the season, and they had it at the best time."
The men ran to their highest finish in program history. Barbosa finished 6th with a time of 24:22, and Masondo captured 14th place in 24:54.
"Ricardo ran up to his potential and by far had his best race of the year," Johnson said. "Sanele also rose to the occasion and was able to sneak into All-American honors."
The roster is filled with freshman, and Johnson is optimistic about the future.
"Every single member of our top seven played an important role in our team this year, and it'll be extremely hard to fill the special role."
Other Trojans completing the 8k course were Remi Chavenaud (25:51), Aled Jones (26:15), Tom Thierry (26:40), John Alex Gonzalez (27:00), and Chayse McCullough (28:07).
The women's squad had five sophomores and did not put a full team on the course until the final weeks of the season.
"I was really happy for them to get a top 10 finish," Johnson said. "They've been such an awesome group to work with, and they will be dearly missed next year."
The Trojans were led by Hodsden's 9th place performance in 18:54.
"Regan had been consistent all season, so it was great to see her get the validation of all the hard work she put in last year and over the summer," Johnson said. "Last year, she finished 16th, one place away from All-American honors. For her to get 9th this year in a much bigger and more difficult field shows the improvement she's made over the past year."
Rounding out CCC's times in the 5k were Cierra Nord (19:37), Emily Diercks (20:15), Tobi Wilber (22:27), Morgan Clinesmith (22:27), and Ryleigh Carr (24:42).