Sports
The Hutchinson Collegian Friday, November 3, 2017
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Sports Arena will be filled with activity this month By Amanda Carney Online Editor The idea all started in March of 2013. This idea was to renovate the Hutchinson Sports Arena. It came about when the NJCAA told the city that the crumbling Sports Arena needed renovations, or risk losing the NJCAA men’s basketball tournament. For HutchCC to host, the facility would have improved the environment for the players, officials, fans and over all facilities.
This is exactly what happened. As stated at www.hutchgov.com, “All parties agreed that the tournament was an important event in our community and we needed to get to work on addressing some of the building issues.” The Sports Arena will be a busy place the month of November, and not just with athletics. Starting Wednesday, the arena began hosting basketball games for both the men and women’s teams. The women will play Lamar on Tuesday at the arena. That same
day, the Sports Arena will host the Dillon Lecture Series with Olympic gold medalist Shawn Johnson, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The arena will host the KCAC Volleyball Championships Nov. 15- Nov. 18. The arena also has the honor of hosting the 2017 NJCAA Division I Volleyball Championship Nov. 15- Nov. 18. Then, on Nov. 21, the men’s and women’s basketball teams will host Coffeyville. To wrap up the month of November, the arena will host men’s and women’s
basketball games vs. Colby. This hectic schedule comes with positives and negatives. One of the negatives is figuring on practice schedules for HutchCC athletic teams. Denny Stoecklein, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for HutchCC, said, “For the most part, priority is given to the scheduling of the Blue Dragons athletic events. There can be an occasion such as the opportunity for the community to host the NJCAA Volleyball National Championship, that
could require us to adjust our schedule.” A positive for HutchCC is being able to show off the campus to visitors during November. “While the Sports Arena is a city-owned facility that sits on city-owned land, its location adjacent to the HutchCC campus provide us a great opportunity to showcase out campus and facilities to thousands of visitors each year,” said Stoecklein when asked how these events benefit the college.
Basketball teams sweep openers
Allie Schweizer/HCC Sports Information Hutchinson Community College’s Curtis Hollis throws down a dunk during Hutchinson’s season-opening game Wednesday at the Sports Arena. The men’s basketball, the reigning NJCAA Division 1 national champion, upended the Friends University junior varsity 102-56 on Wednesday at the Sports Arena. The Blue Dragons will play again Friday against Northlake College at 7:30 p.m.
Allie Schweizer/HCC Sports Information Hutchinson Community College’s Jada Mickens goes in for two of her 34 points during Wednesday’s season opener at the Sports Arena. Mickens set a HutchCC single-game scoring record by a player making her Blue Dragon debut, as the Blue Dragons beat the Bethany College junior varsity 81-35 on Wednesday. The Blue Dragons next play Tuesday against Lamar Community College.
Soccer team falls in Women’s cross country Region 6 Tournament places fifth in Region 6 By Cassidy Crites Staff writer
The Hutchinson Community College women’s soccer team’s fell short at an attempt at a first-round Region 6 Tournament win on Saturday, as the Coffeyville Red Ravens knocked off the Blue Dragons 2-1. The opening round game of the Tournament was hosted at the Salthawk Sports Complex. Coffeyville scored the first two goals of the match, leaving Hutch down 2-0 with 30 minutes, 10 seconds left in regulation. With 15:54 remaining in the game, freshman Avery
McCarter scored, only putting the Blue Dragons down one. With four seconds left in regulation, Hutch had one final attempt at a shot from the corner. Not being able to complete the shot, the Red Ravens claimed victory. The Blue Dragons outshot Coffeyville 20-14. Coffeyville’s goalkeeper Brylee Brasher made eight saves. Blue Dragon’s goalie Clara Bergmuller made two saves. For the first in program history, the Blue Dragons will not reach the semifinals. Hutch completes their season 13-4-1.
Cassidy Crites Staff writer
The Hutchinson Community College women’s cross country ran to a fifth-place finish at the Region 6 Cross Country Championships on Monday in Garden City, led by sophomore Maggie Lambert. The Blue Dragons finished third in the Jayhawk West team standings. Lambert’s time of 20 minutes, 51.7 seconds placed her 15th. In the Jayhawk West standings, Lambert’s time put her in seventh place. Running to her best team placing of the season, freshman America Garcia came in as the second Blue Dragon to finish.
Garcia posted a time of 21:25.6, making her 31st in the region and 16th in the Jayhawk West. Other Hutch runners to add points to the board were Macy Linenberger, Sarah Patteson and Saw Ahmara. Linenberger finished 46th in the region and 23rd in the conference race with a time of 22:19.2. Patteson finished right behind running a 22:19.7 to put her 47th in the region and 24th in the conference. Ahmara completed the course 51st in the region and 26th in the conference. The Blue Dragons compete next at the NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Saturday, November 11.
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• Continued from Page 6 in the region. Next was Myles Hansen at 28:38.9. Gavin Alexander followed at 28:39.3 and the fourth runner was Alec Perrone came in at 42nd with a time of 28:41.5. Those four took 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24th in the Jayhawk West. Tony Ibarra rounded out Hutch running 29:10.7 to earn 52nd in the region and 29th in the conference. The Blue Dragons compete next at the NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Saturday, November 11.
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