Cloud County Athletics
GARDEN CITY – The Cloud County women's and men's track teams won their respective Region VI Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Holding a 16-point lead in the team race heading into the final day of the 2022 Region VI Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Cloud County Community College women's track and field team would make sure that the recent run of Region VI Championships won by the T-Birds would not come to a close this year by pulling away for their fourth-consecutive Region VI track and field title at Broncbuster Stadium in Garden City on Saturday.
Adding three more individual Region VI Champions to their total in final day action, CCCC would finish with 200 points to outpace runner-up Barton who finished with 178 points. Cowley would finish a very distant third in the team standings with 83 total points with Fort Scott (71 points) and Colby (67 points) rounding out the top-five team scoring.
Of the 31 performances that were put together by Cloud County across a total of 17 events on Saturday, 25 would lead to points in the team race for the T-Birds which was highlighted by Region VI Championship performances from Maggie Armstrong in the pole vault (3.31 meters, 10 ft. – 10.25 in.), Miracle Thompson in the 100-meter hurdles (13.22 seconds), and Vimbayi Maisvorewa in the 400 meters (54.38 seconds). The time run by Thompson would break her own school record set earlier this year as all three student-athletes now rank in the top four of their respective event on the 2022 NJCAA performance list.
In addition to the Region VI Championship performances, CCCC would get Region VI runner-up marks from Faithlyn Irving in the triple jump (12.15 meters, 39 ft. – 10.5 in.), Ludjenie Mondesir in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:15.45), Abigail Fisher in the 1,500 meters (5:06.95), Pamela Milano in the 800 meters (2:16.49), and both the 4x100 meter relay team (Thompson, Leonie Beu, Isila Apkup, and Maisvorewa – school-record time of 46.03 seconds) and the 4x400 meter relay team (Beu, Maisvorewa, Passion Crews, and Milano – 3:47.21). Also earning podium finishes alongside their teammates with third-place finishes on Saturday would be freshman Mia Manley in the pole vault (3.16 meters, 10 ft. – 4.25 in.), Lucy Ndungu in the 1,500 meters (5:08.60), and Crews in the 800 meters (2:22.92).
Other top-five finishes by Cloud County on Saturday include a fifth-place finish in the shot put from Hollie Stewart (13.00 meters, 42 ft. – 8 in.) a day winning a Region VI Title in the javelin while track events would see fourth-place finishes from Apkup (100 meters, 11.69 seconds), Maisvorewa (200 meters – school-record time of 23.65 seconds), Fisher (800 meters – 2:22.95), Vanessa Mercera (400-meter hurdles – 1:05.95), and Mondesir (5,000 meters – 19:41.17). Ndungu would also earn a fifth-place finish in the 5,000 meters to go along with her third-place finish in the 1,500 meters and 10,000-meter Region VI Championship performance Friday night to help the T-Birds by scoring a total of 18 points.
What's next?
Following a week off from competition to finish off the academic portion of the spring 2022 semester, Cloud County will return to action for one final meet as the 2022 NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships will be held at Hutchinson Community College May 19-21. In the past two NJCAA Outdoor Track National Championship Meets held in 2019 and again in 2021, CCCC took home finishes of seventh and sixth while placing third at each of the last two NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship meets. The T-Birds currently have 33 times/marks that have qualified for the 2022 National Championship Meet.
T-Bird men
Just a year removed from having a run of four-consecutive NJCAA Region VI Track and Field Titles (indoor and outdoor) snapped by Barton, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team would turn a 19-point lead into a 22-point victory to reclaim the top spot in the region with the 2022 NJCAA Region VI Outdoor Track and Field Title at Broncbuster Stadium in Garden City on Saturday.
Entering Saturday's action with a total of 54 points, the T-Birds would finish as one of three teams to eclipse the 100-point mark to finish with 133 points as Butler would make a massive move from 11th to second by scoring 103 points on the final day to take a runner-up finish with 111 points. The other team to score over 100 points would be Coffeyville Community College which would move up from fourth to third by finishing with 107 points while Cowley College would take fourth with 89.50 points. Rounding out the top five was reigning NJCAA Region VI Outdoor Track and Field Champion Barton with 84 total points.
Trying to follow up Friday's action that saw three individual Region VI Champions crowned, CCCC would add another three Region VI individual championship performances as Mohamed Ahmed (hammer throw, 64.33 meters, 211 ft. – 0 in.), Ben Okraska (pole vault, 4.56 meters, 14 ft. – 11.5 in.), and Hassan Abidi (800 meters, 1:53.97) would all come away with titles in their respective events. The mark from Abidi would be one of two new national qualifying performances by T-Bird student-athletes on Saturday as Brody Vance would also extend his season to the National Championship meet with a third-place finish in the hammer throw after a toss of 48.42 meters (158 ft. – 10 in.).
Earning Cloud County's lone runner-up finish on Saturday would be Ephraim Lerkin after a time of 54.44 seconds in the 400-meter hurdles as the season-best performance from the sophomore would be just .35 seconds back of the Region VI Championship performance by Sharim Hamilton of Hutchinson. In addition to the third-place finish by Vance, CCCC would see both Michael Iyali (3,000-meter steeplechase – 10:03.61) and the 4x400 meter relay team (Shadrick Tansi, Emmanuel Wanga, Alphonse Igish, and Daniel Siaffa – 3:14.53) earn third-place finishes to give the T-Birds a total of seven podium finishes in the final day of action.
Other top finishes from Cloud County would include sixth-place finishes from Andrew Betton in the pole vault (3.66 meters, 12 ft. – 0 in.), Wanga in the 400 meters (48.10 seconds), and Davit Lukava in the 400-meter hurdles (55.90 seconds) while Edwin Kipanoi (1,500 meters – 4:10.07), Vincent Ugwoke (shot put – 14.89 meters, 48 ft. – 10.25 in.), and the 4x100 meter relay team (Igish, Narindra Rafidimalala, Elias Rivera, and Freider Fornasari) would all take seventh in their respective events. The final scoring performances for CCCC would come courtesy of Rivera in the pole vault (2.91 meters, 9 ft. – 6.5 in.), Tansi in the 400 meters (48.54 seconds), and Kipanoi in the 5,000 meters (16:14.59).
What's next?
With 32 individual performances and three relay teams already qualified for the 2022 NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, CCCC is not expected to compete again until the Championship meet which will take place May 19-21 in Hutchinson. Dating back to the 2018 NJCAA Outdoor National Championships, Cloud County has finished no worse than third in an Outdoor National Championship meet which includes their lone National Title coming in 2019. The last time Hutchinson hosted the NJCAA Outdoor National Championship meet was in 2017 after seeing the 2020 NJCAA National Championship meet canceled due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic.