FORT DODGE - Southwestern Community College sophomore Mazzy Hummel capped off her career with a new collegiate 5K PR time of 25:28.33 Sunday at the Region XI Championships held at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
"I'm incredibly proud of Mazzy for coming back out for cross country this fall and giving it another try," Vicker said. "For her to end her career with a new collegiate PR, as a coach, I can't ask for anything more than that. She has worked hard all season, so I was happy for her to end her career with a positive result like this."
For the men, freshman Josh Baudler earned All-Region honors Sunday at the Region XI Championships at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
Baudler, a former state champion for Nodaway Valley, finished 19th overall in the combined Division I and Division II race, and 15th in Division I at the Region XI Championships. He crossed the finish line in 27:10.45, which moves Baudler into 11th on Southwestern's all-time performance list for the 8K race distance. Baudler received honorable mention All-Region XI in both the combined race and the Division I race. Baudler cut 1 minute, 40 seconds off his previous best 8K time for the season and his career.
"Josh ran an outstanding race Sunday, picking runners off throughout the race," Southwestern Director of Cross Country/Track & Field Scott Vicker said. "His familiarity with the course, having finished runner-up and winning a state championship on the course, was valuable not only to him, but to his teammates as he was able to provide them with some insight on how to run the course. Josh is a big-time competitor and I knew he would step up in a big race like this."
As a team, the 21st-ranked Southwestern men finished fourth in Division I with 113 points, behind fellow nationally ranked conference opponents Iowa Central (No. 1), Iowa Western (No. 2), and Indian Hills (No. 7). Baudler highlighted three Spartan harriers who ran PRs Sunday. Freshman Nicholas Mather of Shenandoah cut 14 seconds off his previous best time to finish in 31:17.86. Sophomore Ahmed Fofana also ran a big 8K PR, cutting 1 minute, 2 seconds off his previous best time, and crossing the finish line in 33:01.50. Other Spartans who scored included freshman Connor Koppa of Red Oak, who ran 30:59.58, and freshman Levi Detrick of Shenandoah, who ran 32:36.24. Freshman Leland Perkins finished the course in 37:11.98.
"Anytime we toe the line with the other schools in our conference, we know we're going to see the best competition in the country," Vicker said. "So for our guys to run three new PRs, I was really happy. They got out and competed the best they have all year and Josh, Nick, and Ahmed were rewarded for that with new PRs. Hopefully Sunday's race gives our guys the confidence in themselves they need to go out and perform well again on the same course for nationals in two weeks."
Southwestern's men will return to action at 10:15 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the NJCAA Division I National Championships at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
