Category: Sports

KCKCC’s Blue Devil 5K is a success

Kids participated in the 2014 Blue Devil 5K and Kids Trot recently. (KCKCC photo)

by Kelly Rogge
Exercise was the name of the game during the 2014 Blue Devil 5K and Kids Trot.
The event, which is in its 10th year, was May 3 on the Kansas City Kansas Community College campus.  Eighty participants crossed the finish line.
“This year’s Blue Devil 5k and Kids Trot went awesome,” said Joe Mundt, trainer at the KCKCC Wellness and Fitness Center. “It is great to see the community come out and support our event. Participants really enjoyed the great weather and watching the kids do their races after the 5k was done.”
The goal of the annual event is to get the community more active. The winners were the husband and wife pair of Matt Greer, 18 minutes and 8 second and Angela Greer, 22 minutes and 37 seconds. They both also won last year. Awards were also given to the top finishers in each category. Following the 5K race, children had the opportunity to participate in the Kids Trot. There was also a pancake breakfast in Lower Jewell.
“Our KCKCC Wellness Center staff does a great job every year putting this event on. From setting up the course to helping participants get their bib numbers and timing chips on before the race, our staff does it all,” Mundt said. “The participant’s excitement leading up to the event helps to motivate us to make this event even better each year.”
Donations for the Blue Devil 5K Run/Walk were received from the Midwest Regional Credit Union, Sam’s Club and the KCKCC Bookstore.
For more information about the Blue Devil 5K or the KCKCC Wellness and Fitness Center, call 913-288-7370.

The 2014 Blue Devil 5K and Kids Trot got the community involved in running events. (KCKCC photo)

Cobb returns home to Kansas Speedway

Jennifer Jo Cobb (File photo)

Kansas City, Kan., native Jennifer Jo Cobb, returns home for the first-ever night race for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, Friday, May 16.

Cobb will be driving the No.10 Mark One Electric Chevrolet Silverado, a model that has a new body style, for the 1.5 mile tracks.

Cobb starts the race on Friday currently 15th in points with primary and returning sponsor Mark One Electric on the hood. This race marks the ninth time Mark One Electric has sponsored her at the Kansas Speedway. She was recently in town to help Mark One celebrate its 40th anniversary by making an appearance at a private event held at its Kansas City, Mo., facility.

“What an honor to receive the support of a local, family owned business in Mark One Electric. We have the pleasure of hosting many of their employees and clients during the pre-race and race day activities,” Cobb said. “I’m looking forward to watching the first Sprint Cup Series night race in the Mark One suite Saturday night as well.”

And the hometown love doesn’t stop there. Other local Kansas City businesses supporting Cobb are Arrow Truck sales which sells pre-owned medium and heavy-duty trucks throughout North America, and Pizza Shoppe, Kansas City’s original neighborhood pizza place. Additional sponsors include Referral Leaders International, Candlewood Suites and Race4Girls.com, a Kansas City-based women-owned organization dedicated to helping female racers.

Cobb is a fixture in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. She has broken records for females in the series including the highest points finisher in 2010, the highest race finisher (6th at Daytona) in 2011 and in 2012 she finished the season as the female with the most series starts.

Cobb will be making several appearances this week and fans can meet her and obtain a free autographed picture both at the Sunfresh Legends of Speed presented by the U.S. Army, where numerous drivers will be signing autographs at the Legends Outlets near the Kansas Speedway on Thursday, May 8. Drivers will be signing in staggered time slots from 4:30 to 8 p.m.

–    Information from Tracey Passantino

Difficult playoff losses end KCKCC’s 32-win softball season

by Alan Hoskins

One of the best Kansas City Kansas Community College softball seasons in recent years came to a disappointing end Saturday but just like the Lady Blue Devil basketball season, it took a nationally ranked team to end it.
Ranked No. 8 in Division II, Highland (40-9) earned its fifth straight trip to the NJCAA national tournament by edging KCKCC 4-1 in the opening round and then defeated Independence 7-5 and 6-3 to win the double elimination tournament in Topeka.
“A very difficult way to end the season, not because of the loss but because we’re losing such a great group of sophomores,” said a tearful KCKCC coach Kacy Tillery, whose Blue Devils (32-15) rebounded from the opening loss with a 3-0 blanking of Cloud County only to be eliminated when Independence rallied for five runs in the seventh inning for a 6-3 win.
Despite the difficult season-ending losses, Tillery was especially proud of the Blue Devils’ effort, particularly defensively where the Blue Devils were errorless in two of the three games.

“Mierra Morrisette made one of the most incredible catches I’ve ever seen in leftfield, a somersaulting catch in which she came up with the ball behind her back,” Tillery said. “I was afraid she’d broken her arm.”

Offensively, KCKCC was led by sophomore catcher Megan Dike, who drove in five runs on two doubles and four singles in the three games, and Justice Scales, who had a double and four singles.

One bad inning was the difference in KCKCC’s opening round loss to Highland. Leading 1-0 in the fifth, the Scotties bunched four of their eight hits and a walk – all with two out – to score three times and lead 4-0.

KCKCC got a run back in the bottom of the sixth on a single by Amanda Holroyd, hit batsman and an RBI single by Dike but left the bases loaded on a line drive out after a single by Ashley Henington. The Blue Devils also had two runners on with one out in the seventh before a game-ending double play.

Leslie Ford bounced back after the opening loss to scatter five singles and only one after the third inning in the 3-0 win over Cloud. She struck out five, walked one. KCKCC took a 1-0 lead in the third on an error and singles by Scales and Morrisette and added two more in the fifth when Dike delivered a two-out, two-run double following a single by Scales, error and walk. Dike had three hits and Scales and Morrisette two each.

Trailing 1-0, KCKCC scored three times in the bottom of the sixth for a 3-1 lead against Independence only to have the Pirates tie the game in the seventh on a two-run home run with one out and then win it by scoring three runs on four straight hits, two doubles and two singles, all with two out. A sacrifice fly by Hanna Barnhart and Dike’s two-run single scored KCKCC’s three runs in the sixth after loading the bases on two errors and a hit batsman. KCKCC managed just four hits, two by Dike and only one after the second inning.