ARKANSAS CITY – Producing two NJCAA Region VI Champions and adding a school-record on the final day of the 2021 NJCAA Region VI Outdoor Track and Field Championships, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team would earn a second-place team finish out of 14 teams at the Mark A. Phillips Track and Field Complex in Arkansas City on Saturday.
Entering the day with a chance to win their fifth-consecutive NJCAA Region VI Track and Field Title (indoor and outdoor), the quest for a second-straight outdoor title would end at the hands of second nationally ranked Barton Community College who would win the meet with 178 points to CCCC's 142.50 points. Finishing in a distant third would be Coffeyville with 104 points while host Cowley would finish fourth with 96.50 points.
Two big marks would had out of the gate in the field events as sophomore Courtney Lawrence would set a facility record and win an NJCAA Region VI Title with a throw of 18.28 meters (59 ft. – 11.75 in.) in the shot put while Daniel Cope would break a school record en route to a runner-up finish in the hammer throw (58.52 meters, 192 ft. – 0 in.). Lawrence would go on to take seventh in the hammer throw with a toss of 47.88 meters (157 ft. – 1 in.) while Cope added one point to the team total by taking eighth in the shot put (14.57 meters, 47 ft. – 9.75 in.).
Cloud County's other Region VI Title winner on Saturday would come on the track as Saba Khvichava would run a time of 9:10.46 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase to post the second-fastest time in the NJCAA this year. Khvichava would go on to take fifth in the 800 meters with a time of 1:55.34, finishing just ahead of teammate and sixth-place finisher Rylan Cheney (1:55.42).
Habtamu Geta would have a busy afternoon, finishing second in the 1,500-meter run (3:59.77) and fifth in the 5,000-meters (15:02.31) alongside Michael Iyali who finished fifth in the 1,500 meters (4:03.66) and Awet Beraki who added a seventh-place finish in the 1,500 meters (4:06.64) and a sixth-place finish in the 5,000 meters (15:04.34).
Other strong performances on the track would come from Ephraim Lerkin in the 400-meter hurdles (53.38) and Marcquiece Cade in the 110-meter hurdles (14.78) as the two would finish their respective events with third and fourth-place finishes.
CCCC would also get a fourth-place finish from Renaldo Savoury in the pole vault (4.00 meters, 13 ft. – 1.5 in.) along with a seventh and eighth-place finish from Eduardo Mendoza and Andrew Betton as both would clear 3.70 meters (12.ft. – 1.5 in.). The lone other field event finish from Saturday would see Betton clear 1.95 meters (6 ft. – 4.75 in.) in the high jump to take sixth.
What's next?
Cloud County will begin preparations for this year's NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships which will take place May 11-13 in Levelland, Texas. CCCC will make an official announcement of their NJCAA National Qualifiers at a later date once entries for the meet have been submitted.
May 03, 2021
T-Bird men's track finishes second at NJCAA regionals
Posted May 03, 2021 6:30 PM