Cloud County Sports Information
PITTSBURG - Going for a third-consecutive NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track and Field Championship, the Cloud County Community College women's track and field team would have four individual NJCAA Region VI titles on their way to a runner-up team finish at the 2023 NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track and Field Championships inside the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg on Sunday.
Just three teams would eclipse the 100-point mark of the 13 teams to score in the two-day meet, with Barton Community College winning their 30th NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track title in program history by nine total points with 162 total points to edge out the 153 scored by Cloud County. In third would be Fort Scott Community College with 111 points while the next closest team in the final standings would be Cowley with 77 total points scored. In the post-meet awards, sophomore Lucy Ndungu would be named Female Track Athlete of the Meet after scoring 25 points for the T-Birds in four total events.
Saturday recap
Scoring points in bunches to start day one, Cloud County would get eight points from one of the first events of the meet courtesy of Vanessa Mercera in the pentathlon as the sophomore would finish the event with a school-record 3,687 points to break her own record that she set earlier this season. In the pentathlon, Mercera would win the high jump after clearing 1.67 meters (5 ft. - 5.75 in.) and 800 meters (2:23.28) to go along with a second-place finish in the long jump (5.39 meters, 17 ft. - 8.25 in.) and shot put (10.49 meters, 34 ft. - 5 in.), and a third-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles (9.24 seconds).
14 of Cloud County's 40 points scored on Saturday would come in the pole vault thanks to a second and third-place finish from freshman Jasmine Sakaguchi (3.45 meters, 11 ft. - 3.75 in.) and sophomore Mia Manley (3.30 meters, 10 ft. - 10 in.). The T-Birds would also get team points in field events from Tahisha Thompson in the weight throw with a national qualifying mark of 14.87 meters (48 ft. - 9 in.) for a fifth-place finish to go along with an eighth-place finish from Mercera in the long jump (5.34 meters, 17 ft. - 6.25 in.).
On the track, Cloud County would see the first track event lead to points following a sixth-place finish from Emmy Punches, Lela Singleton, Aliya Johnson, and Nikola Prochazkova in the distance medley relay with a time of 14:00.03 before seeing Miracle Thompson qualify for Sunday's finals in both the 60-meter hurdles (8.50 seconds and 60-meter dash (7.55 seconds). Claiming the lone Region VI individual title on Saturday for CCCC would be Ndungu in the second-to-last event of the day by claiming the 5,000-meter crown with a time of 18:25.88 to best a 14-runner field before seeing Vimbayi Maisvorewa end day one action by qualifying for Sunday's 200 meters final with a time of 24.84 seconds.
Sunday recap
Facing a 10-point deficit in the team scoring, Cloud county would open day two action with a fifth-place finish in the 4x800 meter relay with a time of 10:34.70 coming from Prochazkova, Johnson, Punches, and Bailey Rock before seeing Thompson edge out Danae Nembhard from Barton County in the 60-meter hurdles to set a meet record with a time of 8.281 seconds and win the event by just five one-thousandths of a second. Set to compete in the 60-meter dash finals just 20 minutes later, Thompson would win her second Region VI title of the day with a time of 7.46 seconds as the T-Birds would score 24 points through the first three events of the day.
Two top-three finishes in the 600 meters would come from Passion Crews (second, 1:35.76) and Mercera (1:36.17) to continue the strong start for Cloud County as CCCC would pick up another 10 points in the mile run following a third-place finish from Ndungu (5:21.40) and fifth-place finish from Melody Ochana (5:24.02). Another Region VI runner-up finish would come from Maisvorewa in the 400 meters with a time of 55.28 seconds before seeing Cloud County turn towards field events with three top-eight finishers in the shot put. In the shot put, Mallory Callihan would finish with a fourth-place finish (12.13 meters, 39 ft. - 9.5 in.) along with Tahisha Thompson taking fifth (11.97 meters, 39 ft. - 3.25 in.) and Tamara Thompson with a seventh-place finish (11.79 meters, 38 ft. - 8.25 in.).
The final field event of the meet would also result in team points for the T-Birds with Shackala Henry (1.71 meters, 5 ft. - 7.25 in.) and Mercera (1.66 meters, 5 ft. - 5.25 in.) finishing in second and third in the high jump for another 14 team points. Things would then turn back over to the track with Crews (sixth, 2:28.18) and Ochana (seventh, 2:29.31) both earning top-eight finishes in the 800 meters a third-place finish from Maisvorewa in the 200 meters (24.81 seconds). With just three events left in the meet, CCCC would get a total of 10 points from Ndungu in the 3,000 meters with a runner-up finish (10:36.73) and a seventh-place finish in the 1,000 meters (3:15.38) to go along with a seventh-place finish from Ochana in the 1,000 meters (3:18.76). Capping things off with one final individual NJCAA Region VI Indoor Championship would be the 4x400 meter relay team (Mercera, Crews, Miracle Thompson, and Maisvorewa) by running the fourth-fastest time in the NJCAA this season (3:48.68).
What's next?
Cloud County will conclude the indoor portion of its 2023 track and field schedule in two weeks at the 2023 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships from 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, as CCCC will go for a third-straight top-three finish at the indoor national meet.