Men's Cross Country | 10/29/2021 11:42:00 AM

CONCORDIA, Kan. – The defending NJCAA Region VI and Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference West Division Champion Cloud County Community College women's and men's cross country teams will look to defend their titles at the 2021 NJCAA Region VI Cross Country Championships in Colby, Kansas on Saturday, October 30th.
 
This year's meet, which is being hosted by Colby Community College, will be held at the Meadow Lake Golf Course in Colby as the Thunderbird women and men are expected to be among the team favorites in their respective races.
 
Going for a third-consecutive NJCAA Region VI and KJCCC West Division title will be the CCCC men as Cloud County has won each of the past two Championship meets after finishing fourth in 2018. The 2019 NJCAA Region VI and KJCCC West titles would be capped off with the program's first NJCAA Division I National Championship just two weeks later as the T-Birds have finished inside the top four of the final team results at the Region VI Championships in each of the past five years.
 
A chance at a three-peat for number two-ranked Cloud County won't come easy however as third-ranked Colby and fourth-ranked Northwest Kansas Tech are both expected to contend with CCCC in the Division I race with number-12 ranked Fort Scott and number 13-ranked Garden City also looking towards a high-finish on Saturday. The last time a school won three-consecutive NJCAA Region VI cross country titles was during a stretch from 2015-2017 when Allen County would win three straight right after Colby would accomplish the same feat from 2012-2014.
 
In the women's race, things are expected to a two-team battle with number-four ranked Cloud County and number-seven ranked Dodge City. 10th-ranked Hutchinson and 15th-ranked Garden City will also have a chance to make a move towards the top on Saturday as all four teams have a strong core among their top runners.
 
Not since 2014-2015 has a KJCCC team repeated as NJCAA Region VI Champions on the women's side with Butler the last school to do so. Only six times since 1983 has a team won an NJCAA Region VI Division I title the prior year and not go on to repeat as Region VI Champions, with three of the six occurrences happening in the past five years.
 
Things will officially get underway tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. with the men's 8K race with the women's 5K race to follow at 10:45 AM. Runners who finish in the top-seven of their respected KJCCC Divisions (East and West) will be recognized as All-KJCCC along with the top-15 women and men overall being named All-Region VI. Fans wanting to follow along to tomorrow's action in Colby can do so by viewing live results courtesy of Black Squirrel Timing at the following link: 2021 NJCAA Region VI Championships Live Results. A full recap of tomorrow's action will be posted to www.cloudtbirds.com tomorrow evening following the conclusion of both the men's and women's races.