Cloud County Sports Information
PITTSBURG - Trailing by just two-and-a-half points in the team scoring heading into the 20th and final event of the meet, the Cloud County Community College men's track team would see .33 of a second not only prove to be the difference in the 4x400 meter relay but also the team title at the 2023 NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track and Field Championships as the T-Birds would finish as Region VI runners-up inside the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg on Sunday.
A battle of three teams throughout the weekend would come down to the wire with Fort Scott Community College (117 points), Cloud County (116.5 points), and Barton (114 points) separated by a total of just three points. Finishing 19 points back of Region VI Champion Fort Scott would be Butler with 98 total points while no other team would eclipse the 70-point mark.
Saturday recap
Leading off the meet with the first four events of the heptathlon, Cloud County would see Ricardo Smith, Anson Moses, and Hemon Joseph claim three of the top-four spots after day one action thanks in part to Smith winning the shot put (11.92 meters, 39 ft. - 1.25 in.) and Joseph winning the 60 meters (7.14 seconds). In scored events on Saturday, the T-Birds wouldn't have to wait long to get their first Region VI Champion of the weekend as Mohamed Ahmed would win the weight throw with a toss of 20.12 meters (66 ft. - 0 in.) to win the event by over three feet. Joining Ahmed with a top-eight finish in the event would be Vincent Ugwoke who would record a season-best throw of 17.73 meters (58 ft. - 2 in.). CCCC would also see Ben Okraska defend his Region VI pole vault title by clearing 4.43 meters (14 ft. - 6.5 in.) to win among a 14-competitor field while having teammate Skylar McFarling take eighth after clearing 3.98 meters (13 ft. - 0.75 in.). In the only other field event for Cloud County on Saturday, Oageng Mdlela would earn an eighth-place finish in the long jump (6.83 meters, 22 ft. - 5 in.) as the T-Birds would tally 27 of their 34 points on the day in field events.
Notable track finishes during day one by CCCC included a fifth-place finish from the distance medley relay team of Quwayne Reid, Shadrick Tansi, Andres Young, and Raziel Patton by finishing with a time of 10:44.47. Cloud County's lone other top-eight finish on day one would come from Kidus Misgina in the 5,000 meters by running a season-best time of 15:02.04 for a sixth-place finish.
Sunday recap
Wasting no time in adding 23 team points to their total, Cloud County would see Moses (4,960 points), Smith (4,762 points), and Joseph (4,542 points) finish in first, second, and fourth in the heptathlon with Moses earning the third individual Region VI Title of the weekend by a T-Bird athlete. Other early action on Sunday would see Ugwoke follow up his fifth-place finish in the weight throw by taking fifth in the shot put with a mark of 15.39 meters (50 ft. - 6 in.) before seeing Arne Roehl place seventh in the high jump (1.89 meters, 6 ft. - 2.5 in.). Nine more points would come later in the day from field events with Mdlela recording a mark of 15.05 meters (49 ft. - 4.5 in.) for a Region VI runner-up finish alongside an eighth-place finish from teammate Awakhiwe Ndlovu (14.20 meters, 46 ft. - 7 in.).
In what would become a common theme for CCCC in track events, the T-Birds would see both the 4x800 meter relay (Patton, Reid, Young, and Siyabonga Mokgothu) and 4x400 meter relay team (Daniel Siaffa, Alphonse Igish, Emanuel Wanga, and Leroy Kamau) both finish as Region VI runners-up with times of 7:59.63 and 3:13.44. The two runner-up finishes in the relay events would be joined by a region runner-up finish from Wanga in the 600 meters (1:18.98) as the sophomore would be one of three T-Birds (Hassan Abidi - seventh, Jonathan Dende - eighth) to earn points in the event for Cloud County.
Following up his sixth-place finish from Saturday, Misgina would add a fourth-place finish in the 3,000 meters (8:39.16) for Cloud County's highest-remaining finish of the day with Patton adding a fifth-place finish in the 800 meters (1:57.03) and a sixth-place finish in the 1,000 meters (2:30.74). Remaining top-eight finishes for the T-Birds would include two scoring athletes in the 400 meters with Kamau (48.86 seconds) and Igish (48.91 seconds) finishing in seventh and eighth while seeing Mokgothu take sixth in the mile run (4:23.27).
What's next?
Cloud County will have the next two weeks to prepare for the 2023 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships which will be held at the Washburn University Athletic Facility in Topeka. The T-Birds will be competing inside the facility for the fourth time this season and the first time since the Washburn Mid-Week Challenge on Feb. 9 while going for a sixth-consecutive top-five finish at the Indoor Track Championships dating back to the 2018 season.