The 20th ranked State Fair Community College Roadrunners cross country team claimed the program's first National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 16 Division II Championship with 15 points on Friday, Oct. 28, in Peculiar.
Sophomore Nathan Gemechu of Sedalia covered the 8K course in a time of 29:09.7 to finish third overall. Sophomore Logan Shaw of Warrensburg finished fourth overall with a time of 29:09.7. Official results are only carried to the tenths decimal place. In the event of a very close finish for any particular place, the official scorer will look to the hundredth or thousandths decimal place to break a tie. Hence, Gemechu, officially placed ahead of Shaw by place, but both have the same official time.
Freshman Ezeckual Freed of Branson finished fifth overall in a time of 30:10.0. Sophomore Ryan Smith of Sherwood finished sixth with a time of 30:13.8. Sophomore Ty Lewis of Carthage finished seventh with a time of 30:18.8. Sophomore Juan Herrera of Sedalia finished eighth with a time of 30:23.1. Freshman Roman Ray of Blue Eye finished 10th with a time 31:29.7.
"Today was a validation of all the hard work the athletes have put in this season," said Roadrunners Head Cross Country Coach Brad Hagedorn. "I would like to congratulate Nathan Gemechu for earning All-Region recognition. I would also like to congratulate coaches Matt Clark and Cooper Pauley for their dedication to our athletes. This was the greatest achievement of our young program. We are very excited to compete in the NJCAA Cross Country National Championships and Half Marathon in Tallahassee, Florida, in two weeks."
David Rohrbach
SFCC Athletics