Hutchinson CC Sports Information

When the first set of national rankings came out in September, the Hutchinson Community College men's cross country team saw a No. 3 next to its name – the highest ranking in Blue Dragon men's history.

Not much was thought of the ranking at that time. After all, at that time very few teams had competed in this Covid 19-affected season. But the Blue Dragons have maintained a Top 5 national ranking through the next four ranking releases and will take a No. 5 ranking into Saturday's NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

"I always go in thinking that a finish at our ranking or better, it's been a good showing," Blue Dragon head coach Justin Riggs said. "The men are ranked fifth, so our goal is Top 5. Top 3 would be really special. We would have to have a big day, but it's possible."

The Blue Dragons' No. 1 runner, sophomore Teagan Flanagan, wants more from his team, though. He thinks the 2020 Blue Dragons are capable of finishing in the Top 3.

Heading into his last race as a Blue Dragon, Flanagan is pushing his teammates to believe that as well.

"I think we can finish in the Top 3," Flanagan said. "It's been fun and stressful at times. I've been kind of tough on everybody at times. I want everybody to push hard in practice and not be contest with just Top 5. We can be Top 3."

Since the 2019 Fort Hays State Tiger Open, Flanagan has been at the top of his game. He finished out his freshman season with a ninth-place finish at Fort Hays, at 10th-place all-region showing at the Region VI Championships and an 81st-place finish at nationals.

After two months of high-altitude training in Colorado over the summer, Flanagan has been spectacular in 2020.

He has finished no worse than third, has three runner-up finishes and he won the Red Devil Relays on October 3. His time Region VI time of 24:58.80 is the ninth-fastest 8,000-meter time in Blue Dragon history.

Now to close out his career at Hutchinson Community College, he wants more from himself and his team.

"I want to go out like any other race and get up with the lead pack and see what happens," Flanagan said. "I have learned that the pace is going to be set hard from the start. You have make up your mind to go with that pace and hang on to sit back and reel them in. I'm going at pace and see what happens."

"We are anticipating a fast race from the gun," Riggs said. "He's prepared for that. If it's not, he can handle either way. We do think it will be a tough race and they will go out fast and hard. We will have him ready for that."

While not a deep team, the 2020 Blue Dragons have packed well for the most-part this season. Hutchinson has produced four-straight second-place finishes and has a third-place finish to its overall performance this season.

The Blue Dragons finished second to Cloud County in the Region VI Championship.

"I think everybody's run to what I anticipated coming into the season," Riggs said, summing up the 2020 season. "They have been really consistent this season. Still, we haven't had a meet yet where the Top 5 runners all had their best races. That would be cool for it to happen at nationals."

Entering Saturday, sophomore Jacob Mcelhanon comes off a ninth-place regional time of 26:22.70. Sophomore Matthew Schrag ran an 8K season-best 27:38.06 at Region VI. Sophomore Andrew Holt rank 27:05.44 at the Red Devil Relays. Freshman Cameron Delaney has put back-to-back good performances at UNK and Region VI. Freshman Aaron Geissinger made a huge leap at Region VI with a time of 28:25.70. Freshman Jared Carrasco has an 8K best of 28:21.1 at UNK.

The Blue Dragons are looking for their third-straight national Top 10 finish with seventh-place showings in both 2018 and 2019. The last time Hutchinson finished in the Top 5 nationally was in 1998 and HutchCC's best national finish ever was third in 1962.