MANHATTAN, Kansas — The Cloud County Community College track teams had a banner day Sunday down in Manhattan at the indoor Region VI/KJCCC Championships.
Cloud County's men's team won the KJCCC crown (227 points) and placed second in the Region VI (177 points), while the women's team finished third in the conference (116 points)0 and fourth in the region standings (92 points).
Sophomore runner Thobile Mosito was named the MaleTrack Athlete of the Meet after taking the top spot in the 3,000 (8:44.86) and 5,000-meter run (15:04.80), as well as third overall in the men's mile run behind teammate and event winner, Moses Dirane.
Dirane, named the Top Point Athlete of the Meet, won the mile event with a time of 4:19.16. He added another event win in the men's 800-meter run, crossing the line in 1:56.45 ahead of Barton's Nathan Hood, and a second-place finish in the 5,000-meter run (15:14.76).
The Cloud men's team also big performances from freshmen Longins Kouri, Kyle Alcine and Peter Ackah.
Kouri won a nail-biting men's 1,000-meter race as he reached the finish line in 2:35.35, just .53 seconds ahead of Hood in second place.
Ackah took home the triple jump championship with a leap of 48'4.50 and for Alcine won the men's high jump with ease as he was the only athlete to clear the seven-foot mark (7'1'').
Sophomore thrower Gabbreil Harris and sophomore sprinter Jatoria McGirt highlighted what was also a strong performance by the Cloud County women's team as both athletes finish with two event wins.
McGirt set three school records en route to being crowed the Region VI/KJCCC champion in the 60-meter dash and 200-meter dash, earning her the female Track Athlete of the Meet award.
The Florida native's record breaking times were 7.42 seconds in the 60-meter dash, besting her own previous record of 7.54, and a mark of 24.64 seconds in the 200-meter dash. Vanessa Clarida previously owned that record with a time of 24.68 seconds back in 2006.
McGirt was also a member of the Cloud County women's 4x400-meter relay team, featuring Ageonia Wilkerson, Ariel St. John and Chanice Forbes, which ran a converted time of 3:50.95 seconds on Sunday. The time netted the relay team a second-place finish and beat the previous school record of 3:53.66 set back in 2011.
Meanwhile, Harris dominated the women's weight throw and shot put events. Her and freshman teammate Takyra Hilton finished first and second in the shot put with throws of 41'3.25'' and 41'1'', respectively.
Harris and another freshman teammate, Avi Bulai, owned the top-two spots of the podium again in the weight throw. Harris won the event with a toss of 60'5.25'' and Bulai was close behind in second at 57'5.75''.
Other notable performances for the T-Birds included the national qualifying time of 8:03.06 produced by the men's 4X800-meter relay team Omari Miller, Tanner Brown, Anthony Nunez and Kouri to finish second in the event.
Sophomore thrower Vashon McCarthy also took second in the men's shot put (57'4.25''), freshman Nikki Kraaijeveld placed second in the women's Pentathlon with 3106 points, and Robson Yinambe was second in the men's Pentathlon.
Cloud County will now take a week off to rest and regroup for a run at the NJCAA Indoor National Championships, scheduled for March 2-3 in Lubbock, Texas.
