Cloud County Athletics
EMPORIA - Four national qualifying marks would be set on Friday night by the Cloud County Community College women's track and field team as the T-Birds would continue what would become a successful weekend on Saturday with two school records and an additional eight national qualifying marks to win the 2022 Emporia State University Relays at Francis G. Welch Stadium in Emporia.
Earning a 10-point team victory would be CCCC as the T-Birds would finish with 86 points to outlast Lincoln University who would finish as runners-up with 76 total points. The next-closest team would be Fort Hays State with 61.5 points as the Tigers finished just ahead of Northwest Missouri State (60 points) and Indian Hills Community College (58 points) to round out the top-five in a 24-team meet.
Leading things off on Friday would be the duo of Ludjenie Mondesir (11:43.00) and Melody Ochana (11:46.64) as both would run national qualifying times in the 3,000-meter steeplechase as part of a third and fourth-place finish in the event to get the T-Birds on the scoreboard. Sophomore Leonie Beu would also add a national qualifying mark by running a time of 24.27 in the 200 meters as the event would conclude on Saturday morning to see Beu win the 96-runner event. The final national qualifying time ran on Friday would be posted by Passion Crews who would join teammate Pamela Milano in the 800 meters by running a time of 2:19.04 to finish in 15th among a 55-runner field that included a fourth-place finish from Milano (2:13.73).
Both school records would come in Saturday's action as Miracle Thompson would blitz her way to a time of 13.97 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles to break the record of 14.03 seconds set by Jacqueline Pokuaah in 2019 while earning a runner-up finish. Crews, Abigail Fisher, Mondesir, and Lucy Ndungu would be responsible for the other school-record, posting a time of 9:25.94 in the 4x800 meter relay to win the event and break the record that Mondesir and Crews help set just last season at the 2021 NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
Also earning an event win would be Thompson, Sicely Jackson, Crews, and Ochana in the 1,600-meter sprint medley relay with a time of 4:13.11 to go along with a runner-up finish and national qualifying time of 46.71 seconds from Isila Apkup, Beu, Vanessa Mercera, and Thompson in the 4x100 relay. The lone other relay ran by CCCC would be the 4x400 meter relay where Apkup, Beu, Milano, and Maisvorewa would also earn a runner-up finish with a time of 3:46.10 to run a season-best time.
The remaining national qualifying marks from T-Bird athletes would include Maisvorewa in the 400 meters (54.02 seconds) Apkup in the 100 meters (12.07 seconds), Hollie Stewart in both the javelin (39.71 meters, 130 ft. - 3 in.) and shot put (13.16 meters, 43 ft. - 2.25 in.), and Jessi Brummett (38.64 meters, 126 ft. - 9 in.) in the javelin. Maisvorewa would win her respective event while Stewart would snag a fourth-place finish in the shot put.
What's next?
Cloud County will look to carry over the momentum from a successful weekend into next weekend's Friends University Invitational which will take place on Friday and Saturday in Wichita. Last year at the Friends Invitational, Cloud County earned eight event wins, one meet-record, and two national qualifying marks at the meet.