Comet XC runners sweep field at NCCAA event

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

The Cottey Comet cross country team was in top form Saturday, sweeping the field at the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) Flacon Classic — hosted by Kansas Christian College.

Taking the top five spots, Cottey was paced in the 5,000 kilomete 5K (3.1) run by sophomore Matina Ramirez's school record time of 19:29. Ramirez's performance was so dominant, in fact, she dropped her lifetime personal-best record by 24 seconds.

Fellow sophomore teammate Ella Page placed runner-up, clocking in at 19:35. While Ramirez now owns the new school record, Page's time also bested the previous mark, set five years ago (19:37). Additionally, Page shaved off a whopping 61 seconds from her career personal-best time.

Coasting to third-place, Cottey freshman Kiana Garcia checked in with a time of 21:40. Cottey sophomore Deanndria Shields finished in fourth, notching a personal season-best showing of 21:53. After spending a week recovering from an ankle injury, Comet sophomore Karina Gchachu bounced-back with a season-best time of 22:14, en route to a fifth-place finish.

Rounding out Cottey's team-scoring were senior Cheyanne Porter, and freshman Katie Wright.

Porter placed seventh (23:01), and Wright 11th (24:56). Both notched season-best outings.

"Going into the race, we knew this would not be a highly competitive meet," said first-year Cottey head coach, Rose Howell. "But with the fast course, it was a great opportunity to aim for personal-records, and perfect our pacing and race confidence. From the gun, Martina and Ella led the women’s field, with a 6:05 first-mile (time), to pull their teammates through a very fast bike trail, that snaked through Lake Lexington’s park grounds and wheat field."

Howell continued: "A majority of the course ran over hard-packed dirt and grass surfaces, and many stretches offered a slight downwards incline, that the runners made sure to take advantage of. By 10 a.m., a wind advisory of 25 mile-per-hour gusts had struck, and a few stretches took the racers head-first into the wind. Luckily, tall grass and trees protected much of the course from any serious wind interference."

Summed up Howell: "With our conference and national championships (meets) postponed until the Spring of 2021, this meet was a great confidence-builder for the runners to earn some hardware, and see the fruits of their hard work and early morning (workouts)."

Up Next

Cottey wraps its fall slate at the NAIA Mid-States Classic — hosted by Southwestern College, Oct. 24 in Winfield, Kansas.

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