by RJ Michaels
- Annie Logie and Kaiyanna Alexander are former St Joseph’s Convent (St George’s) athletes
- Both will compete at NJCAA Division I National Championships
- Head Coach praised freshmen duo for adjusting rapidly to demands of collegiate distance racing
Former St Joseph’s Convent (St George’s) athletes Annie Logie and Kaiyanna Alexander helped lead the Cloud County Community College T-Birds to a podium finish and qualification for the 2026 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I National Cross-Country Championships on Friday, 30 October.
Competing over a 5-kilometre course at the Ollie Isom Cross Country Course in El Dorado, Kansas, USA, the Grenadian freshmen contributed to a 3rd-place team finish at the combined NJCAA Region 6 and Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference (KJCCC) Championships.
Fort Hays Tech Northwest took regional honours with 59 points, followed by host Butler Community College in second with 61 points. Cloud County accumulated 80 points to comfortably secure the final automatic qualifying berth for the national finals. Alexander was the first of the Grenadian pair across the finish line, placing 26th overall in 20:27.16. Logie placed 36th in 21:07.59.
Sophomore Faith Jepchumba led the Cloud County women, finishing second overall in 17:39.61. Scholastica Herman placed sixth (18:42.38), Breonna Peterson finished 14th (19:29.71), and Isabelle Smith finished 34th. Alexander’s 26th-place finish rounded out the T-Birds’ five scoring runners, while Logie’s 36th-place performance served as an essential displacement score.
Cloud County Head Coach Drew Mahin praised the freshmen duo for adjusting rapidly to the demands of collegiate distance racing in the United States. “Especially with them being so young, they’ve done extremely well,” Mahin said. “They have adjusted well to training in just a short few months, especially Kaiyanna, who has grown in confidence and really pushes herself. This is their first experience competing in cross country in the States, and they have been great teammates who never complain.”
Mahin noted that the endurance developed during cross-country season will serve as a foundation for the upcoming indoor and outdoor track campaigns. “Annie shows great potential with her speed, and building this endurance base will really help her on the track later this season,” Mahin added. “Both of them will be key as we pursue our goal of securing a top-10 team finish at Nationals in Huntsville.”
The third-place finish secures Cloud County a spot at the NJCAA Division I National Championships, scheduled for 14 November in Huntsville, Alabama, where Logie and Alexander will compete against the top junior college distance fields in the United States.
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