Men's Cross Country | 10/3/2025 3:52:00 PM

After two weeks away from competition, the Cloud County Community College men's cross country team will head to Fayetteville, Arkansas on Saturday, October 4 for the 37th annual Chile Pepper Festival. This will be Cloud County's first appearance at the Chile Pepper Festival since 2021.

The Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival is one of the premier running events in America. Typically, over 80 college teams and 120 high school teams battle for prestige and unique Chile Pepper awards. The T-Bird men will race in the Prairie Fire Pepper 8K at 11:25 am, held at the University of Arkansas cross country course.

The Cloud County men's cross country team is ranked No. 23 in the Week 2 edition of the 2025 NJCAA Division I Men's Cross Country National Coaches' Poll, which was released October 1 by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). The T-Birds are coming off a 13th place finish in the gold division at the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska on September 20. The gold division featured runners from NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, NAIA and NJCAA.

Sophomore Gelasa Degefa Abdisa led the way for the T-Birds with a 19th place finish out of 236 runners with a time of 25:43.98. Sophomore Abdelaziz Benbrahim finished 80th with a time of 27:04.49. Shortly behind Benbrahim was freshman Davis Miltner in 87th at 27:13.92. Freshman Jesus Baltazar was 172nd at 29:04.90. Shortly behind him was freshman Zeb Schultze in 174th with a time of 29:08.28. Freshman Nicholas Johnson placed 176th with a time of 29:20.00. Freshman Korbin Dykes finished 177th at 29:23.26. Sophomore Cody Sharp was 205th at 30:39.17, while freshman Gage Taylor was 218th with a time of 31:31.53.