Hutchinson CC Sports Information

GAINESVILLE, Florida – The Hutchinson Community College men's Distance Medley Relay just missed the awards podium on Friday, but set a school record in the event on Day 1 of the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The Blue Dragon relay of Rickyle Telemaque, Christian Darrah, Titus Kiprotich and Leo LeGrand beat the 1977 record in the event, posting a ninth-place time of 10 minutes, 8.89 seconds, beating the old Hutchinson record by 3.11 seconds.

For LeGrand, that was the start of what could be a special national championship. After running the DMR, LeGrand posted the top qualifying time for Saturday's 1,000-meter finals. LeGrand posted a PR and the top NJCAA indoor championship time in Blue Dragon team history with a time of 2:25.58.

LeGrand will also run in the Mile run finals on Saturday.

The Blue Dragons scored three points on Day 1 of the two-day competition. The Dragons are in 17th place with 7 of 20 events scored. Pima leads the team race with 45 points. New Mexico Junior College is second with 33 points.

Pole vaulter Chris Johnson placed sixth on Friday, clearing 15-0 3/4. That was the third-best vault in Blue Dragon indoor national championship history.

Other Blue Dragon performances on Friday:
+ Ty'Rique Roland placed 10th in the high jump going 6-6 1/4 (1.99 meters).

+ Ezekiel Seamster didn't qualify for the 60-meter finals, running 6.80 seconds in the preliminaries on Friday.

+ David Thid ran the best 600-meter time in Blue Dragon indoor nationals history, finishing 13th in Friday's preliminaries with a time of 1:20.54.

+ Elisha Williams ran a time of 48.47 seconds in the 400-meter prelims, the third best national time in Blue Dragon history.

+ Farin Mangelson placed 17th in the 5,000 meter finals with a tie of 15:15.52, the fourth-best national performance in Blue Dragon history.

+ Kiprotich ran a PR and the second-best indoor championship time in the 3,000 meter finals, placing 19th in 8:34.90.

+ D'Antonio Warren finished 26th in the 200-meter preliminaries with a time of 21.76 seconds.

On tap for the Blue Dragon men on Saturday:
+ 1:20 PM (CT) – LeGrand and Darrah run in the finals of the Mile run.

+ 2:45 p.m. (CT) – LeGrand puts his No. 1 qualifying time on the line in the 1,000-meter finals

+ 3:10 p.m. (CT) – The Blue Dragon 4x400 relay will compete in the final event of the national championships.