HUTCHINSON, Kansas — The Cloud County Community College track and field teams' annual trip to the Region VI/KJCCC Championships netted some new hardware as the men's team finished second overall in the Region VI and KJCCC West, the women's team finished third overall, and women's head coach Ted Schmitz took home Region VI Coach of the Year honors.
The men's team finished with 160 points and the women came in with 99 points, tying for third with Cowley College.
For Schmitz, the Coach of the Year award marked the eighth time he's received the honor in his 37 years at Cloud County and the first since a string of four straight between 1994-1997.
Sophomore distance runner Thobile Mosito, who rolled to a win in the men's 10,000-meter final on Friday, was the Region VI Male Top Point Athlete of the Meet after a banner day on Saturday.
Mosito added a Region VI/KJCCC championship in the 5,000-meter run (15:27.37), and a runner-up finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:30.77), just behind his teammate and reigning national champion in the event, Moses Dirane (9:30.42).
Dirane added a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter run (15:42.05) and came in fourth in the 1,500-meter behind another teammate, sophomore Stephen Marindich in third (3:59.61).
Marindich earned his way atop the podium in his bread and butter event, the 800-meter run, crossing the finish line with a time of 1:53.83. Freshman Omari Miller was close behind in third place with a time of 1:56.41.
In the women's 800-meter final, sophomore Ariel St. John earned a runner-up finish with a time of 2:17.64.
Sophomore Thandeka Manzana capped off a great afternoon and meet for Cloud County distance runners by earning a runner-up finish in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase (12:11.70) and adding a sixth-place finish in the 5,000-meter run (20:49.95).
The T-Birds success on the track continued in the sprints and relay portion of Saturday's events as sophomore Darrien Lipscomb placed second in the 400-meter run with a time of 48.13, and sophomore Jatoria McGirt, the 100-meter national champion during the indoor season, took third on Saturday with a mark of 11.78.
The duo each helped their respective relay teams to podium appearances, as well, as McGirt was part of the women's 4X100-meter relay team (Ageonia Wilkerson, Precious Posey and Myflore Methelus) to a third-place finish in 46.87.
Lipscomb aided the men's 4X400-meter relay team (Tanner Brown, Lesley Mahlakoane and Marindich) to a second-place finish, crossing the finish line in 3:12.55; just shy of the current school record of 3:12.00 set in 1980 by Terry Hawk, Leo Suber, Frank Lange and Paul Jones.
The women's 4X400-meter relay team of Wilkerson, Posey, Nikki Kraaijeveld and Kenisha Stubbs collected a top-3 finish, as well, as they placed third with a mark of 3:58.96.
Cloud County added five more podium finishes in field events on Saturday, highlighted by a pair of freshmen in Takyra Hilton and Avi Bulai.
Hilton placed second in the women's shot put event with a throw of 44-feet, 8.75 inches and Bulai, the Region VI/KJCCC champion in Friday's hammer throw, took third place in the discus event (142'10).
Rounding out Cloud County's top finishers Saturday were freshmen jumpers Kyle Alcine and Peter Ackah, and sophomore Raymond Nellom.
Alcine and Nellom finished back-to-back in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the high jump. Alcine cleared 6'8'' and Nellom reached the 6'6'' mark.
As for Ackah, he collected points with a fourth-place finish in the men's triple jump with a leap of 48'11.75.
Cloud County will look to build off its strong weekend as it now prepares for NJCAA Multis and National Outdoor Championships, set for May 17-19 in El Dorado, Kansas.
The T-Birds will have a chance to get athletes on the national qualifying list bubble one more chance to make the big dance this Saturday at the Emporia State University Qualifiers.
