WICHITA – Setting three meet records and three national qualifying marks, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team would finish with six event wins and 13 top-three finishes over the course of the two-day Friends University Spring Open at Adair Austin Stadium in Wichita on Saturday.
A top mark and meet record would get the meet started on Friday evening for Cloud County as javelin thrower Caden Bach would toss a new personal-best and meet record throw of 66.29 meters (217 ft. – 6 in.) to best the 23-participant field for an event win in his only event of the meet. Adding a runner-up finish to the day would be Daniel Cope in the hammer throw with a toss of 56.20 meters (184 ft. – 4 in.) while Linus Limo would take fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (10:34.49) and Eduardo Mendoza finishing fifth in the pole vault (3.80 meters, 12 ft. – 5.5 in.).
CCCC would also set a meet record with Courtney Lawrence besting a 29-person field in the shot put with a throw of 18.42 meters (60 ft. – 5.25 in.) while Cope would earn a win in the discus with a throw of 52.33 meters (171 ft. – 8 in.). Lawrence would go on to also take third in the discus (45.48 meters, 149 ft. – 2 in.) to cap off another strong weekend from the Petersfield, Jamaica native.
In track events, Cloud County would get a pair of wins from Habtamu Geta with victories in the 800 meters (1:56.15) and 1,500 meters (3:57.35). A meet record from the 4x400 meter relay team would lead to CCCC's other event win with a time of 3:15.16 as the time would be a season-best in the event for the T-Birds.
Recording national qualifying marks in the 1,500 meters would be Saba Khvichava (3:57.56) and Michael Iyali (4:00.79) as the duo would finish second and fourth-respectively to give Cloud County three in the top four for the event. Edwin Kipainoi would go on to add a runner-up finish in the 5,000 meters for CCCC while Jaysaun Smith recorded the other second-place finish for Cloud County with a time of 48.71 in the 400 meters to beat out third-place finisher Emmanuel Wanga.
What's next?
Cloud County will be back at it on Saturday, April 17th as the T-Birds will take to Emporia, Kansas to take part in the 2021 Emporia State Midwest Classic. The first event of the meet is slated to get underway at 9:30 a.m. and will feature a full day of action.
--cloudtbirds.com--