Cloud County Sports Information
WICHITA - Totaling 17 top-10 finishes, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team would continue to put up big marks to close out the month of January by competing at the 2023 Wichita State University Herm Wilson Invitational inside the Heskett Center in Wichita.
No team scores were kept for the event as the T-Birds would compete against athletes representing schools from NCAA Division I, II, the NAIA, and NJCAA.
Friday recap
Multi-event athletes would make up the majority of the action seen by Cloud County on Friday with Anson Moses, Ricardo Smith, and Hemon Joseph each competing in the first four of the seven-event competition. The trio would finish in the top-three spots in the long jump and shot put of the event while Smith would go on to win the high jump with a mark of 1.90 meters (6 ft. - 2.75 in.) with each of the three putting up a total over 2,500 points to end day one and set up the chance for a strong finish on Saturday. Two other events that were contested on Friday would also have CCCC athletes in competition, with Brandon Hutchinson placing fourth in the triple jump (13.60 meters, 44 ft. - 7.5 in.) while Davis Mick (14.58 meters, 47 ft. - 10 in.) and Vincent Ugwoke (14.30 meters, 46 ft. - 11 in.) taking eighth and ninth in the weight throw.
Saturday recap
Picking up where they left off on Friday, Moses, Smith, and Joseph would continue to dominate the 11-competitor field in the heptathlon by finishing with the top-three spots in the 60-meter hurdles before seeing all three finish in the top four of the pole vault. Following the final event of the heptathlon (1,000 meters), Smith would find himself with an event win with a total of 4,787 points to edge out Moses who placed second with 4,748 points while Joseph would take third with a total of 4,485 points.
In addition to the event victory by Smith, the T-Birds would also post event victories with Kidus Misgina in the mile run (4:30.64) and the 4x400 meter relay team (3:22.73) along with second-place finishes from Ben Okraska in the pole vault (4.71 meters, 15 ft. - 5.5 in.) and Lubo Zlatev in the long jump (7.06 meters, 23 ft. - 2 in.). CCCC would also have a pair of third-place finishes come courtesy of Ugwoke in the shot put (15.53 meters, 50 ft. - 11.5 in.) and Quwayne Reid in the 1,000 meters (2:35.04) as both Reid and Raziel Patton (fourth, 2:35.34) would see their 1,000-meter times converted to NJCAA national qualifying times. Remaining top-10 finishes for the T-Birds would come from Emmanuel Anis in the 200 meters (fifth, 23.24), Leroy Kamau in the 60 meters (fifth, 6.94 seconds), Arne Roehl in the high jump (1.95 meters, 6 ft. - 4.75 in.) and a second 4x400 meter relay team placing fourth with a time of 3:30.25.
What's next?
Cloud County will participate in two different meets next weekend with split-squad action taking the T-Birds to Lincoln, Neb., for the University of Nebraska Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational and Topeka for the Washburn University Open and Multi-Events. Both meets will begin on Friday and finish up on Saturday.