Tritons Win One For The Ages
Within the span of 24 hours, mother nature threw a curveball at Iowa Central and the entire NJCAA Cross Country National Championships. As teams arrived in Fort Dodge throughout the week, they were welcomed with temperatures in the 50's and 60's. The day of the championship; however, the beautiful green grass was completely covered in white snow, and temperatures hovered around freezing all day. It was going to take more than a blizzard to stop the Iowa Central Men's team who were focused solely on their goals. After losing by four points to the then #1 ranked Reivers of Iowa Western two weeks prior on the same course at the Region 11 Championships, the Tritons were determined to change their fortune.
Entering the Championships, the Tritons had moved up in the national rankings from fifth to third, with a chip on their shoulder after coming within four points of beating Iowa Western two weeks earlier. The NJCAA Division 1 men's race was the third of six races on the day, and the snow was still coming down. With only tire tracks from the lead cart to follow, poor visibility and some slippery downhills – it was an equalizer for many teams.
The Iowa Central men got out hard and to an early lead 33-point lead over #2 ranked Hutchinson CC and the rest of the 30-team field. At no point during the 8-kilometer race were the Tritons ever lower than second place in the team standings. Between the 2-kilometer and 5-kilometer marks, Hutchinson slowly chopped the Tritons lead from eight points down to only two. Momentum was not in Iowa Central's favor, by the 6k mark, Hutchinson moved into a 3-point lead and then increased it to nine points by 7k with just over half a mile remaining in the race.
Throughout the race, Hutchinson was led by a duo up front who finished first and second place individually. Iowa Central occupied the next two positions by 7km with Chakib Cherkaoui Rhazouani in third place and Saad Rifi Loutfi in fourth place. By the 8km mark, the Tritons held their positions, not losing any ground to Hutchinson or any other competitors to pull off a nine point victory. Iowa Central managed to keep all five scoring runners ahead of Hutchinson's fourth runner. The Triton's seven runners finished 3–4–12–17–22–36–77 while the runners from Hutchinson finished 1–2–7–27–32–142–185.
Cherkaoui, and the Rifi Loutfi twins each earned NJCAA All-American status by finishing among the top 15 in the nation. Soufyane Laaziz was the fourth runner for the Tritons, finishing in 17th overall. Finishing in 22nd place was Taha Ouchene and in 36th was Brian Kirwa. Laaziz, Ouchene and Kirwa were named to the Coaches Association All-America Team. Rounding out the participants for Iowa Central was Emmanuel Kiplagat who finished 80th overall.
2025 marked the sixth NJCAA Men's Cross Country National Championship for the program and Coach Dee Brown. Since starting the cross country, half marathon and track and field programs in 2004, Brown's teams have accumulated a total of 41 NJCAA National Championships. The men's cross country teams previously won titles in 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020 and 2021. The men have also finished as national runners-up a total of six times and earned one third place finish.
The final standings, after the "snow settled" were:
1. Iowa Central (#3) - 58
2. Hutchinson (#2) - 69
3. Butler (#5) - 144
4. Snow College (#10) - 144
5. Central Arizona (#6) - 157
6. Iowa Western (#1) - 183
The women's race saw the #15 ranked Tritons finish 16th overall in a field of 26 scoring teams while competing without one of their top five scorers. Iowa Central was led the entire way by first-year runner Hafsa Oukadou who finished tenth overall. After 1-kilometer she was in 18th place and slowly worked her way up throughout the duration of the 5-kilometer race. Oukadou finished in a time of 18:48.5 to earn NJCAA Division 1 All-America honors.
On her heels was sophomore Abbigail Hutchinson, who finished 24th in a time of 19:27.8 to earn NJCAA Cross Country Coaches Association All-America recognition. Hutchinson also finished in 24th place a year ago at the same championships run in Virginia.
Fanny den Uyl, Alivia Edens and Kylie Melchi were the next three across from Iowa Central. They finished in places 112th, 123rd and 126, respectively. The sixth and final runner for The Tritons was Fort Dodge native, sophomore, Dari Cook. Cook finished 163rd out of 177 total finishers.
"It is hard to put into words what transpired today. From a meet-management standpoint, the weather made for an incredibly stressful factor. I was in disbelief for quite some time regarding the outcome of the men's race. I couldn't be happier for each of them! We saw the women perform up to expectations and we are very pleased for that. As tough as the conditions were, most of the teams made the best of a challenging and unexpected situation. It is satisfying to know that hundreds of athletes participated in a once-in-a-lifetime event they will be telling their grandchildren about." - Director of XC/TF Dee Brown
The Tritons will rest for two days and then host the NJCAA Half Marathon Championships on Tuesday, November 11th. The half marathon is 13.1 mile race starting at the Crimmins building in Fort Dodge and the runners will finish in Kennedy Park adjacent to Lakeside Golf Course.