Hawks Claim Maryland JUCO and Region XX Division 1 Titles

Story By Phil Marshall

The Hagerstown Community College men's and women's team claimed individual titles at the Region XX meet on Saturday. 

The Hawks got those individual wins from Henry Schmidt with a time of 27:13.8, beating a second best time of 27:36.3 by Carroll's Daniel Saxon. Fellow Hawk Nate McKinsey finished third with a time of 27:39.9 

Other notables for the Hawks were Garrett Kercheval finishing 10th at 28:53 and Saige Vipond finishing 12th at 29:10.8. Malik Bagwell-Cook finished in 25th at 31:51.5 to complete the scoring for the Hawks. 

"I'm so proud of this team that we pulled it off," Schmidt said. "We executed and prepared well for this meet."

On the women's side, Khelsa Connolly won the women's race with a time of 21:15.3. 

The race was close from start to finish between Connolly, Essex runner Gabrielle Turner and NOVA competitor Tyler Means. Turner finished in the runner up spot a little over nine seconds behind Connolly with a time of 21:24.2, just in front of third place finisher Means with a time of 21:24.9. 

"This was unbelievable," Connolly said. "We've been talking about this meet for a long time and sometimes the buildup can get to people, but I didn't let it get to me."

HCC's India Pack helped with the Hawks scoring with a solid eighth place finish at 23:22. 

The Hawks will travel to Albuquerque, N.M. for the NJCAA National Championships on November 9th where they will look to claim a National Title.