TOPEKA - A second straight weekend of competition for the Cloud County Community College women's and men's track and field teams would lead to seven new national qualifying marks, a new meet record, and two second-place team finishes at the 2022 Washburn University All-Kansas Invite inside the Washburn University Indoor Athletic Facility in Topeka on Saturday.
Grabbing six first-place finishes and a total of 36 top-eight finishes while competing against 11 other NCAA Division I, II, NAIA, and NJCAA squads from around the state of Kansas, the Cloud County women would net a total of 104 points to trail only meet winner Wichita State who had 199 points while the CCCC men would total 99 points to trail only Wichita State who finished with 141 points. No other NJCAA school would finish better than fifth in either the women's or men's scoring as the T-Birds would also beat host Washburn and NCAA Division II member Fort Hays State to go along with McPherson College, Ottawa University, and Bethel College from the NAIA.
Finishing with five of the six national qualifying marks for CCCC on Saturday would be the Cloud County women led by an event win in the weight throw with a current NJCAA best mark of 15.49 meters (50 ft. 10 in.) from freshman Tahisha Thompson who won the event by over three feet. A pair of top-five finishes in the 800 meters from Pamela Milano (2:20.64, third) and Abigail Fisher (2:23.60, fifth) would both lead to national qualifying times as well as a second-place finish in the 400 meters from CCCC newcomer Vimbayi Maisvorewa (56.47) and a third-place finish from Faithlyn Irving in the triple jump (national qualifying mark of 11.67 meters, 38 ft. - 3.5 in.).
The Cloud County women would also get event wins from the 4x400 meter relay team of Leonie Beu, Passion Crews, Isila Apkup, and Maisvorewa in a season-best time of 3:52.88 as Beu would provide the other T-Bird event win by taking first in the 600-yard run (1:27.06). Freshman Miracle Thompson would post a runner-up finish in the 60-meter hurdles with a season-best time of 8.79 seconds before going on to finish fourth in the 60 meters in a time of 7.72 to earn top-five finishes in both of her events on the day while Vanessa Mercera would take fourth in the long jump (5.45 meters, 17 ft. - 10.75 in.). Other top-eight finishes for the CCCC women include a fourth-place finish from the second T-Bird 4x400 meter relay team of Mercera, Bailey Rock, Melody Ochana, and Mondesir as Mondesir would go on to take sixth in the 800 (2:24.71) while Mercera took eighth in the 400 meters (1:00.31). Ochana added a sixth-place finish in the mile (5:25.40) while Crews took fourth in the 600-yard run (1:30.88) to go along with a fifth-place finish from Hollie Stewart in the shot put (12.48 meters, 40 ft. - 11.5 in.) and seventh-place finish from Apkup in the 400 meters (59.47).
Just one new national qualifying mark would be set by the Cloud County men on Saturday but it would be a big one as Timothy Nyinguan would take third in the triple jump with the NJCAA's third-best mark this season of 14.71 meters (48 ft. - 3.25 in.) while also placing eighth in the 600-yard run (1:15.44). The T-Birds would manage to finish with seven of the top-eight runners in the 600-yard run with Emmanuel Wanga (1:10.90), Raziel Patton (1:13.33), Jonathan Dende (1:13.68), Quwayne Reid (1:13.81), Ephraim Lerkin (1:13.87), and Alphonse Igish (1:14.96) joining Nyinguan by finishing first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and seventh in the event.
Cloud County's remaining two event victories would come with Shadrick Tansi winning the 400 meters in a time of 49.68 seconds before seeing the 4x400 meter relay team of Dende, Lerkin, Igish, and Wanga finish off the day with a meet-record time of 3:16.84. Daniel Siaffa, Tansi, Reid, and Patton would also team up to run a 4x400 meter relay, finishing third in the 17-team field by posting a time of 3:20.07 to account for the second of CCCC's three third-place finishes as Mohamed Ahmed would take the bronze in the weight throw with a personal best of 19.47 meters, 63 ft. - 10.5 in.).
Other top-five finishes for the T-Birds included a fourth-place finish from Tansi in the 200 meters by finishing in a time of 21.99 and a fourth-place finish from Siaffa in the 400 meters (50.76) while Patton would post a time of 1:57.69 in the 800 meters to take fifth. Matching his season-opening mark of 4.40 meters in the pole vault would be freshman Ben Okraska to take sixth in the 23-man field while Davit Lukava posted a time of 7.79 in the 60 meter hurdle finals to take seventh in his only event of the day. The final two top-eight finishes would come from Reid in the 800 meters (seventh, 2:00.45) and Goga Maglakelidze in the triple jump (eighth, 12.11 meters, 39 ft. - 8.75 in.).
What's next?
Cloud County will participate on Sunday in the 2022 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Invitational on the campus of Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg in what is scheduled to be the first of only two Sunday competition dates during the 2022 indoor season. The meet is slated to feature a number of NJCAA schools which includes KJCCC member schools at the site of the 2022 NJCAA Region VI and 2022 NJCAA Indoor National Championships.
Jan 25, 2022
T-Bird Track and Field teams 2nd at Washburn All-Kansas Invite
Posted Jan 25, 2022 3:30 PM