Banning earns PR at fifth meet of the season
VICTORIA, KS., October 18, 2014-The Northwest Kansas Technical College Cross Country Team competed in the fifth meet of the season October 18 at the Sand Plum Natural Trail in Victoria, KS. The meet was hosted by Fort Hays State University. Once again, only two men competed. They were: Jameslee Banning from Burden, KS (first year Electrical Technology), and Jordan Ball from Bolivar, MO (first year Automotive Technology).
The Fort Hays State Invitational was a huge event hosting schools from several states including Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, and South Dakota. With the large number of student athletes, there was a very high level of competition in both the men and women divisions. This meet was also open to "all comers" and there were many unattached and local club teams that choose to run. The meet featured two men's races and two women's races in order to keep the number of competitors down to a manageable level.
There were 113 finishers for the Men's Black Division (which consisted of primarily community college, NAIA, and Division I "B" teams), and 83 finishers in the Women's Black Division. There was a Men's and Women's Gold Division that was comprised of mainly NCAA Division I-III schools. For the Gold Division, the men had 201 finishers, while the women had 143 finishers. The winning time for the 8 kilometer race Black Division Race was 24:11 by an unattached athlete, and the Men's Gold Division winner was from Western State in a time of 23:23. Allen County CC was the Black Division winner and Colorado School of Mines was the Men's Gold Division winner. The 5K Black Division Women's race was won in a time of 18:38 by an athlete from the Pratt. The Gold Division Women's Division was won by an athlete from Adams State in a time of 17:14. The Women's Black Division team title went to Dodge City CC, and the Gold Division team title went to Adams State University.
Jameslee Banning had his best race of the year. Banning finished 106th and had a PR of 32:00. This was about 1:45 faster than his previous PR set nearly a month ago.
Jordan Ball finished the 8K course in a time of 34:01 and finished in 110th place.
Northwest Tech will be in action for their final meet on Saturday, October 25th in Colby at the NJCAA Division I Region VI Championships.