The Men's Cross Country team placed 15^th at the NJCAA National Championships hosted by Butler Community College in El Dorado, KS. The men came into the contest ranked #18, ranked in every national poll this season, and also in every poll dating back to the first poll of 2013.  The 15^th place is the 3^rd time in the last 4 years where the men have placed in the top 20, and 2^nd in 3 years where they have cracked the top 15. It is also the 2^nd best national finish in school history since the Cross Country Division merge. Central Arizona won the national title, led by a dominating championship performance by individual champion Gilbert Kigen. 65 Schools were represented as well as 40 full teams. It was one of the largest fields ever.

Jose Jaime (McAllen, TX) running on his birthday, saved the best for last.  Jose became the 2^nd ever Division 1 NJCAA Cross Country All-American in Highland history (Brian Martinez 2013 and 2014). Jaime finished 40^th place with a time of 26:24, a personal best and 6^th fastest time in School History. Jorge Guerrero (San Antonio, TX), just off being named All Conference and All-Region on the season, finished 86^th place with a time of 27:19. Zekarias Philipo (Houston, TX) finished 110^th, John Brunner (Elbing, KS) finished 127^th, and Jordan Adams (Princeton, MO) finished the scoring at 141^st, and running a lifetime best of 28:05.  Isaiah Smith (Highland, KS) came up big for the Scotties running his lifetime best of 28:29.

Coach Clevenger on National Meet: All season long, the big question mark was our #5, who it would be and how much we'd get out of him. If our 5^th could be close to our 4^th, we had a shot at the top 15. Jordan saved his best 2 races in his Highland career for Regional and National, and came up big for us, and we got that performance from #5 that we wanted. Of Course Jose was outstanding, and making All-American is big for the program. Most importantly, we had great practice guys setting us up for success in the National meet, as Brandt Houk (Hiawatha, KS) day in and day out made sure these guys put in work. Brandt was willing to "Race" each day at practice leading up in order to make sure our guys got race ready, and stayed sharp, and be our "Scout Team" MVP leading up to this national performance! Overall, I was thrilled at our performance, and really felt for the first time coaching at HCC, left the national meet with a good feeling after our race.

Highland Community College      15^th Place             469 Points

40           Jose Jaime                          26:24     ***All American

86           Jorge Guerrero                 27:19

110         Zekarias Philipo                 27:39

127         John Brunner                     27:54

141         Jordan Adams                   28:05

178         Isaiah Smith                        28:29

193         Cole Hinton                        28:43