CONCORDIA – In a year that has been filled with a lot of uncertainty and the likelihood of more uncertainty to come, Cloud County Community College women’s track and field coach Ted Schmitz has told his student-athletes to “take things one day at a time” and to “control what they can control.”
Considering how quickly things were shut down last March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the hopes of getting in a full indoor and outdoor season will be the primary goal this year as the T-Birds will open their 2021 indoor schedule this Saturday at the Highland Community College Challenge.
“We have a lot of hope and high expectations for a good year, but there will be challenges and that’s the thing that we are trying to get our student-athletes to realize is that there will always be challenges in life,” said coach Schmitz. “This group has been a pleasure to coach so far this year in the preseason, but without an outdoor season last year has caused our athletes to be more appreciative and hungry for an opportunity to compete this season.” “We have to take this season one day at a time and hope for the best while realizing that there may be some setbacks this season.” “Any potential setback does not keep us away from our goals we have set and we have to remember that facing adversity head-on will go a long way in helping us accomplish our goals.”
With five returning student-athletes who qualified for the NJCAA Indoor National Championships this season, CCCC will look to break through both at the Region VI level and National level as the T-Birds have finished NJCAA Region VI Runner up at each of the last two Indoor Championships and the most recently contested Outdoor Championship while adding in three top-eight national finishes in that span. Led by returner Mercy Ntia-Obong who finished National Runner-Up in both the 60 meters and 200 meters last season, Cloud County will look towards a mix of returners and newcomers to make another strong push towards the end of February at the Region VI Championships.
Other returning national qualifiers for Cloud County include Marie Forbes who took seventh in the shot put and 10th in the weight throw a year ago while Aliya Hatton looks to build upon last year’s fourth-place finish in the 60 meters. Mid-distance runners Kya Johnson (member of the sixth-place 4x800 meter relay team) and Pamela Milano (ninth in the 600 meters) will also look to add some depth as CCCC will have the potential to earn points in just about every area this year.
For CCCC, the schedule is set for eight meets including the postseason, with two trips to Highland mixed in with three trips to Washburn University for meets in the early going ahead of the NJCAA Region VI Championships on Feb. 20 and 21 in Pittsburg. The T-Birds will then have one final opportunity at the Cowley Last Chance Qualifier to hit NJCAA qualifying times and marks before returning to Pittsburg for the 2021 NJCAA Indoor National Championships the first weekend of March.
If any changes to the schedule are made this season, they will be announced as they happen on www.cloudtbirds.com.
--cloudtbirds.com--