LEVELLAND, Texas - Coming off of Tuesday's two national championship performances, the Cloud County Community College track and field teams would add two more national champions to their total while seeing three other student-athletes earn national runner-up finishes on day two of the 2021 NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships in Levelland, Texas on Wednesday.
With nine events scored in both the men's and women's meet, the Cloud County men will carry an 18-point lead in the team race into tomorrow's final day of action while the CCCC women remain seven points back of meet-leading New Mexico Junior College. The T-Bird men currently have 57 points, with Iowa Central (39 points) and Barton (34 points) rounding out the top three in what has set up to become a four-team race to the finish tomorrow with South Plains in fourth place (30 points). Over on the women's side, Cloud County is sitting with 41 total points to trail only the Thunderbirds of New Mexico JC who has 48 points while Iowa Central (40 points), Mesa (34 points), and South Plains (28 points) are all within striking distance heading into an action-packed final day on Thursday.
Wamego native Marcquiece Cade would deliver with one of the two national championship performances on Wednesday by finishing off the final five events of the 10-event decathlon to score an additional 2,735 points and finish with a two-day total of 6,075 points to edge out teammate Andrew Betton who would earn National Runner-Up status with 6,042 points. Betton would make an early push in the day to try and overcome what began as a 27-point lead by Cade to begin day two by outscoring Cade in both the pole vault and javelin, but Cade would close strong in the javelin and 1,500 meters while posting a better mark in the discus to remain ahead of Betton as the two would be the only athletes in the field to eclipse the 6,000-point mark.
Cloud County's other national champion on Wednesday would come from Courtney Lawrence as the sophomore would cap off an undefeated season with the fourth-best all-time mark in the NJCAA shot put by recording a mark of 18.98 meters (62 ft. - 3.25 in.). Lawrence would also have a throw earlier in the day that would go 18.91 meters (62 ft. - 0.5 in.) as the two marks would both rank in the top-six all-time in the NJCAA.
Other top marks from the Cloud County men would come from Saba Khvichava in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:22.37) for a National Runner-Up finish while both Habtamu Geta (3:58.57) and Michael Iyali (4:00.26) would post fast enough times in the 1,500 meters to qualify for tomorrow's finals. Geta will also compete in tomorrow's 5,000 meters as Cloud County will have a total of eight athletes compete in five different events tomorrow to try and add to the team scoring on the men's side.
The Cloud County women would also have a national runner-up performance recorded on Wednesday as Marie Forbes would finish second in the shot put with a throw of 14.43 meters (47 ft. - 4.25 in.). Three of CCCC's remaining top marks from Wednesday would come in preliminary races as Patricia Koma (1,500 meters, 4:58.40), Pamela Milano (800 meters, 2:17.86), and the 4x400 meter relay team (Leonie Beu, Tashira Edwards, Isila Apkup, and Milano - 3:47.19) all qualified for tomorrow's finals and will look to score for the T-Birds. CCCC also had two of the top seven finishers in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as Koma (11:57.51) and Ludjenie Mondesir (12:13.21) finishing fifth and seventh, respectively.
What's next?
Final day action is set to get underway at 9 a.m. Thursday with field events running up through the early afternoon while 10 national champions in both the women's and men's meets will be decided on the track beginning at 1 p.m. The Cloud County women will have 10 athletes compete across eight different events as the T-Birds will be going for a second-straight top-three finish at the national championships to close out their season. In the men's race, CCCC will look to try and add enough points to their first two-day haul to earn a high finish as Cloud County will have limited opportunities to score points on the final day.
-cloudtbirds.com-