T-Bird track and field makes most of lone home meet of 2022

CONCORDIA - Putting on a show on campus and across town at Harold M. Clark Stadium, the Cloud County Community College track and field teams would set one school record, seven new national qualifying marks, and 15 new meet records at the 2022 Thunderbird Classic on Saturday.

Beginning the morning with throwing events taking place on campus, the T-Birds would get a meet-record from freshman Mohamed Ahmed in the hammer throw after recording a mark of 62.34 meters (204 ft. - 6 in.) as CCCC would also have the second-place finisher in Brody Vance (44.52 meters, 146 ft. - 1 in.) and third-place finisher in Davis Mick (40.84 meters, 134 ft. - 0 in.). The women's hammer throw would see an event win from Tahisha Thompson (39.43 meters, 129 ft. - 4 in.) while Mallory Callihan would take second with a mark of 38.54 meters (126 ft. - 5 in.) to edge out teammate and third-place finisher Hollie Stewart (38.08 meters, 124 ft. - 11 in.).

Adding additional event victories in throwing events contested on Saturday morning, Vincent Ugwoke would set a meet record in the discus by recording a throw of 54.19 meters (177 ft. - 9 in.) before seeing a clean-sweep by Cloud County in the javelin courtesy of Anson Moses (48.54 meters, 159 ft. - 3 in.) for the men and Brummett (43.70 meters, 143 ft. - 4 in.) for the women. Brummett's throw would set a meet-record and set the new high-water mark in the NJCAA this season as the T-Birds now have athletes in the top-two spots of the women's javelin in the NJCAA.

Ugwoke would go on to also win the shot put over at Clark Stadium by recording a mark of 14.46 meters (47 ft. - 5.25 in.) while Stewart would put up the top women's mark for CCCC by taking third with a mark of 12.79 meters (41 ft. - 11.5 in.). Other field event action would see sophomore Narindra Rafidimalala record a jump of 7.25 meters (23 ft. - 9.5 in.) in the long jump to hit a national qualifying mark and join teammate Bradley Davies-Pughe who qualified last weekend at the 2022 Sooner Invitational. The women's long jump would also have new national qualifying marks hit as an event win from Vanessa Mercera (5.62 meters, 18 ft. - 5.25 in.) and a runner-up finish from Faithlyn Irving (5.59 meters, 18 ft. - 4.25 in.) come as part of a one-two-three finish for CCCC after seeing Reanna Green take third (5.35 meters, 17 ft. - 6.25 in.).

Irving (11.98 meters, 39 ft. - 3.75 in.) and Green (10.54 meters, 34 ft. - 7 in.) would also go on to record a one-two finish in the triple jump later in the day to finish off their respective events as the T-Birds would claim a total of 11 event wins in field events throughout the day. The final two field event victories for CCCC would both come in the pole vault as another clean sweep from the men and women would be highlighted by a national qualifying performance from freshman Mia Manley by clearing 3.24 meters (10 ft. - 7.5 in.) while Ben Okraska won the men's event with a throw of 4.40 meters (14 ft. - 5.25 in.).

Kicking off the running events with the 3,000-meter steeplechase for Cloud County, the T-Birds would see both Ludjenie Mondesir (12:03.72) for the women and Linus Limo (10:28.17) for the men with Melody Ochana (12:49.53) and Elmer Sotelo (10:29.67) both claiming second. Following the steeplechase would be the 4x100 meter relay where the women's team of Miracle Thompson, Leonie Beu, Isila Apkup, and Vimbayi Maisvorewa would set a meet-record with a time of 46.68 seconds before seeing the men's team of Elias Rivera, Rafidimalala, Emmanuel Wanga, and Freider Fornasari post their own meet-record with a time of 40.66 seconds.

Continuing with the event wins would be the duo of Abigail Fisher (5:07.84) and Michael Iyali (4:10.14) in the 1,500-meter races before seeing a meet-record from Moses in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.64 seconds. Following the event victory from Moses, Beu would continue with the run of meet-records by running a time of 56.91 seconds in the 400 meters to edge out teammates Passion Crews (58.20 seconds) and Apkup (59.41 seconds). The men's 400-meter dash would see T-Bird Shadrick Tansi win with a time of 48.42 seconds to beat out Hassan Abidi (48.56 seconds) and Jonathan Dende (48.96 seconds).

CCCC's new school record would come from Fornasari by posting a time of 10.28 seconds to beat his old record by a full tenth of a second and move up to seventh on the NJCAA qualifying list. Both the women's and men's 800-meter dash would feature new meet records from Cloud County athletes as Pamela Milano (2:19.07) and Quwayne Reid (1:54.67) would win the event. Another meet-record would come on the women's side of the 400-meter hurdles as Sicely Jackson (1:04.51) would win and be followed by a win for the T-Bird men in the event with Moses running a time of 55.59 seconds to sweep both men's hurdle races.

In the final two events of the day, Lucy Ndungu would take an event win the 5,000 meters with a time of 19:19.40 before seeing the 4x400 meter relay team of Maisvorewa, Beu, Milano, and Crews post a time of 4:22.97 for an event win with the CCCC men's team of Dende, Igish, Reid, and Abidi putting together a time of 3:18.45 for an event win.

What's next?
Just one meet remains ahead of the 2022 NJCAA Region VI Outdoor Track and Field Championships for Cloud County as the T-Birds will be in El Dorado next weekend to take part in the 2022 Butler Invitational. Action will get underway at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex at 10 AM with field events while the running events will commence at 11 a.m. to give fans a full day of action that will be live-streamed courtesy of Butler.