PITTSBURG – The top-ranked Cloud County Community College women's track and field team would add seven new national qualifying marks to go along with 11 event wins at the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference/NJCAA Region VI Invitational held at the Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg on Sunday.
No team scores were kept for the meet, which featured all National Junior College Athletic Association schools with KJCCC schools making up most of the field.
Leading the T-Birds with two new national qualifying marks would be sophomore Patricia Koma as the Wichita native would post an event winning and national qualifying time of 3:09.33 in the 1,000 meters and 18:48.18 in the 5,000 meters. Adding to the distance race national qualifying marks would be the distance medley relay team of Passion Crews, Abigail Fisher, Kya Johnson, and Ludjenie Mondesir as the relay would earn a win in their first race of the year while also qualifying for the NJCAA National Championship meet with a time of 13:11.24.
A pair of national qualifying marks would be recorded in the 400 meters as freshmen Isila Apkup (56.94) and Leonie Beu (57.85) would earn a one-two finish in the 24-runner field while Pamela Milano ran her way to a national qualifying time of 2:14.90 in the 800 meters (second-place finish). The final new national qualifying mark for CCCC would come in the triple jump as Faithlyn Irving would compete in the event for the first time this season and come away with a winning mark of 11.20 meters (36 ft. – 9 in.).
Coming off last week's school-record performance, the 4x400 meter relay team consisting of Mercy Ntia-Obong, Beu, Apkup, and Milano would earn an event win for the second straight weekend by posting a time of 3:53.73 with Ntia-Obong going on to post wins in the 60 meters (7.41) and 200 meters (24.15). Other event wins for the T-Birds in track events would come courtesy of Tashira Edwards in the 600 meters (1:40.90) and Mondesir in the 3,000 meters (11:22.28) to go along with the lone other field event victory (Georgia Bell in the pole vault, 2.94 meters – 9 ft. – 7.75 in.).
Posting a pair of runner-up event finishes would be Marie Forbes in the weight throw (16.07 meters, 52 ft. – 8 in.) and shot put (13.75 m – 45 ft. – 1.5 in.) while Maycee Callihan would take fifth in the weight throw (13.14 meters, 43 ft. – 1 in.) and sixth in the shot put (11.29 meters, 37 ft. – 0.5 in.). Cloud County would also get a third-place finish from Apkup on the track in the 60 meters in a time of 7.62 seconds to cap off a day that saw 16 top-three finishes.
What's next?
The T-Birds are slated to head back over to Highland to take part in the Highland Community College Tom Bond Invitational on Saturday for their second meet of the year in Highland. Last time out in the Walter's Wellness Center, Cloud County set seven national qualifying marks as part of a 210-point performance en route to winning the Highland Challenge.
--cloudtbirds.com--