Cloud County Athletics
TOPEKA - The final tune-up ahead of next weekend's NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track and Field Championships would net a total of six new national qualifying marks set by the Cloud County Community College women's and men's track and field teams at the 2022 Washburn University Mid-Week Challenge held at the Washburn Indoor Athletic Faculty in Topeka on Thursday.
No team scores were kept for the event, which featured nine collegiate teams, two of which were NJCAA squads with the remaining seven coming from NCAA Division I and II universities.
Highlighting the day was a pair of national qualifying marks in the 200 meters as Freider Fornasari (21. 67) of the CCCC men's team and Isila Apkup (24.89) of the T-Bird women finishing second and sixth in their respective gender's running of the event. The 800-meter run would also prove to provide a pair of national qualifying marks among the two Cloud County teams as Quwayne Reid (1:56.98) and Sicely Jackson (2:23.84) both managed to earn top-seven finishes in their respective race while running times that both rank inside the top-30 of the NJCAA this season. Edwin Kipainoi (3,000 meters - 8:42.56) and Pamela Milano (400 meters - 57.52) would also run national qualifying times on Thursday on their way to a pair of seventh-place finishes in their events.
Other top finishes by CCCC athletes on Thursday saw Jonathan Dende run a time of 49.25 in the 400 meters to take second as part of a two-three-four (Hassan Abidi, 49.50 and Timothy Nyinguan - 49.54) in addition to a seventh-place finish from Daniel Siaffa (49.86). The T-Bird men would also get a second-place finish from Fornasari in the 60 meters (6.89) and third-place finish from Mohamed Ahmed in the weight throw (19.23 meters, 63 ft. - 1 in.) while the women would see Faithlyn Irving take fourth in the triple jump (11.47 meters, 37 ft. - 7.75 in.) and an eighth-place finish from Hollie Stewart in the shot put (12.63 meters, 41 ft. - 5.25 in.) In the 4x400 meter relay, it would be a season-best time of 3:15.57 from Abidi, Dende, Siaffa, and Nyinguan to place second at the meet as the time currently ranks seventh in the NJCAA.
What's next?
Just two meets remain in the 2022 indoor season with both serving as postseason competition beginning on Feb. 19 when CCCC heads to Pittsburg State University and Robert W. Plaster Center to take part in the 2022 NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track and Field Championships. The two-day meet will feature 10 top-25 ranked teams in both the women's and men's competition which will be held at the same site as the 2022 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships.