Hutchinson CC Sports Information
FORT DODGE, Iowa – Louise Cocking got what she was looking for at the NJCAA Division I Women's Cross Country Championship – Redemption.
Two weeks after her self-proclaimed "most disappointing" race of the season at the Region VI Championships, the Hutchinson Community College freshman from Derbyshire, United Kingdom, posted her career-best effort on the sport's biggest stage on Saturday at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa.
Cocking placed fifth individually to earn first-team NJCAA All-America honors and she led the Blue Dragons to a Top 10 team finish. Hutchinson matched its national ranking and finished seventh in the team race.
"I'm very happy with my performance," said Cocking, who said she ran in the coldest conditions in her career with a temperature of 39 and a gusty north wind that pushed the wind chill into the 20s at the start of the race.
"I didn't go out as fast and it was very windy so I tried to stay behind runners to I could fight the wind. As the race went on, I just stayed with the league pack."
Cocking was one of three Blue Dragons to post personal-best times on Saturday. She covered the 5,000 meters in 19:05.94.
That time represented the fastest time ever posted by a Blue Dragon runner in the national meet. Cocking also moved up to No. 3 on the all-time Blue Dragon cross country chart at 5,000 meters, trailing only Lisayo Ewoi (18:29.1) and Limo (18:50.0).
"If I would have run at regionals like I normally do, we would have finished third," Cocking said. "I knew that was important to the girls. I wanted to prove to the team that I could do my part and I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it as well."
Cocking is Hutchinson's ninth NJCAA All-American and first since 2001 when Ruth Limo, Pam Shelite and Lisa Volk earned All-America honors for the national champion Blue Dragons. Cocking's fifth-place finish is the third-highest nationals placing by a Blue Dragon runner in team history. Elissa Peterman (1999) and Limo (2001) both placed fourth in their respective national races.
"Louise was a woman on a mission from when the gun went off," Blue Dragon head coach Justin Riggs said. "It was a lot of fun watching her. She moved really well all over the course. She ran a complete race.
"Louise has been very focused and very passionate about this sport. She came all the way to the United States to run. She is a competitor. She will compete with herself and the competition. It's fun to see her in that moment."
Hutchinson earned its first Top 10 national finish since 2004 and 11th overall with a seventh-place team performance. The Blue Dragons scored 182 points. They were the fourth-highest Region VI team in the Top 7.
No. 8 Ranger stunned the field by winning the team championship with 75 points. Ranger edged Cloud County by one point for the team national championship. Southern Idaho was third with 104 points, Colby fourth with 122 points and Dodge City fifth with 172 points. Iowa Western placed sixth with 179 points.
"It was one of the better races of the season for the women," Riggs said. "Probably the one thing that held the girls back this year was Izzy Wheeler got her injury and was out a few weeks. She is still dealing with that and that held us back a little.
"The rest of the girls ran great. We did as good as we could."
Sophomore Sheila Too earned Coaches All-America honors with a 21st-place finish. She is the first Blue Dragon to earned Coaches All-America honors (Top 25 finish) since Sarah Patteson and Gabby Collins in 2018. Too ran a time of 20:06.10 and improved 29 places from her freshman nationals finish of 50th.
Freshman Noel Hidalgo ran a personal-best time and highest team finish. She was the third Blue Dragon to finish in a PR time of 21:04.11
Sophomore Megan Miller improved her national placing 89 places over her freshman performance, placing 52nd in a time of 21:22.07.
Freshman Izzy Wheeler placed 62nd in a time of 21:49.81
Freshman Jurney Yung had her second-straight PR to close out the season, placing 63rd with a time of 21:51.54. She improved her PR by 26.58 seconds.