Men's Cross Country | 9/5/2025 12:35:00 PM

The Cloud County Community College men's and women's cross country teams are set to open their 2025 seasons on Saturday, September 6 at the 77th annual JK Gold Classic in Wichita, Kansas.

The T-Birds will race at Clapp Cross Country Course at L.W. Clapp Park in Wichita for the second consecutive season. The race is hosted by Wichita State University. The race is scheduled for an 8 am start for the men's 6k and an 8:30 am start for the women's 5k.

The Cloud County women's cross country team came in at No. 20 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason national coaches' poll which was released on August 27. The men's team is ranked No. 23 in the USTFCCCA preseason national coaches' poll. Both teams return three runners from last year's squads that finished in the top 20 at the 2024 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.

At last year's JK Gold Classic, the Cloud County women posted a seventh place team finish, ending the 5k race with 219 points and the highest overall finish among two-year schools. Returning runners Mercy Angaamchaab came in 34th place with a time of 19:16.12, and Nontokozo Ncube followed with a time of 20:23.16 to finish in 57th place.

In the men's race, Cloud County took 11th place overall, finishing third among two-year schools behind Colby Community College and Cowley College. Returner Abdelaziz Benbrahim crossed the finish line in 62nd place in a time of 20:02.15. Gelasa Degefa Abdisa finished 95th with a time of 21:05.11, while Cody Sharp added a time of 22:36.49.

The women's 5k will consist of a 2k loop and a 3k loop. The men's 6k will have a pair of 3k laps. The course map and meet info can be found here.

Live results provided by MileSplit can be found here.

This is the first of four regular season races for Cloud County, who will be back in action September 20 for the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska. The regular season will continue October 4 with the 37th Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and the Fort Hays State University Tiger Open on October 11.

Postseason for the T-Birds will get underway with the 2025 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference/Region 6 Championships on October 24 at Meadow Creek Golf Course in Colby. Last season, the T-Bird women finished third overall at the Region 6 championships, while the men finished fifth. Finally, the T-Birds will wrap up their season on November 8 at the 2025 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Fans can follow race results from the JK Gold Classic by visiting cloudtbirds.com, as well as following the Cloud County Athletic Department's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.