Mato wins another championship, Barton women 27th at Nationals

The Barton Community College women's cross country team finished the season Saturday  coming in 27th at the 2014 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championship held at the Shadow Hills Golf Course in Lubbock, Texas.  Standout Lydia Mato became the fifth runner in Barton history to win the individual championship leading the Lady Cougars to an overall 27th nation finish.

Two weeks ago the Lady Cougars finished 8th as a team at the very tough Region VI Championships, but Saturday the Lady Cougars finished 5th amongst the region teams in a total time of 1:44.59 to average 20:59.80 over the 5k race. 

The day's spotlight belonged to another spectacular performance by Lydia Mato.  Competing in her first season of cross country, the sophomore from Ghana won the title by 24 seconds over Iowa Central Community College's Viola Kebenei.  The duo had battled on two occasions throughout the season as each had one a race in head-to-head completion, but Mato took home the ultimate prize crossing the tape in 17:05.  The title is number six for Mato who extends her dominance to cross country having won every award possible during the 2014 indoor and outdoor track and field seasons.

Kaitlynn Tuey completed her freshman season coming in with a Top 100 finish to add to All-Region honors earned two weeks ago as the Great Bend native placed 88th in a time of 20:19.  Holly Pierce came in third for the Cougars as the Texas freshman placed 160th in 21:39.

Trenna Cox also completed her first cross country season in preparation for spring track multi-events as the sophomore placed 190th in 22:37.  Dodge City freshman Yazmin Rendon just missed coming in the Top 200 placing 204th in 23:19 while Julee McAtee rounded out the Cougar runners coming in 228th in 25:56.