PITTSBURG, Kan. – A chance to compete against strictly NJCAA competition would lead to seven event wins and seven new national qualifying marks for the Cloud County Community College women's and men's track and field teams at the 2022 Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Invitational held at the Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on Sunday, January 30th.
Accounting for four event wins and four national qualifying marks would be the T-Bird men with the CCCC women earning the remaining event victories and national qualifying marks as no team scores would be kept at the meet.
All four national qualifying marks for Cloud County on the men's side would come in track events on the day as Edwin Kipanoi would get things started with a second-place finish in the 5,000 meters in a time of 15:23.11 to punch his ticket to the NJCAA Indoor Championships while fellow distance runner
Kidus Misgina would put down a time of 8:48.00 in the 3,000 meters to win the nine-runner race and post a national qualifying time of his own. CCCC would also see
Jonathan Dende in the 400 meters (48.24) seconds finish in second with a national qualifying time while the distance medley relay team of
Raziel Patton,
Daniel Siaffa,
Quwayne Reid, and Misgina earned a runner-up finish in a national qualifying time of 10:32.95.
Cloud County's other distance medley relay team of
Rylan Cheney,
Timothy Nyinguan,
Ephraim Lerkin, and
Michael Iyali would wind up taking third with a time of 10:47.61 as relay teams on the men's side would account for four top-eight finishes. The T-Birds would also have Patton,
Shadrick Tansi, Reid, and Nyinguan team up for a second-place finish in the 4x400 meter relay (3:20.27) while
Elias Rivera,
Andrew Betton,
Anson Moses, and
Deandre Elliot placed sixth in the event with a time of 3:37.02. Joining Dende in the 400 meters would be
Emmanuel Wanga who would post a season-best performance of 48.50 to take third while Tansi (48.90),
Alphonse Igish (49.72) Nyingaun (49.93), and Siaffa (49.98) finished fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth in the event. CCCC's remaining win on the track for the men would come from
Freider Fornasari who would run a season-best time of 6.79 in the 60 meters while finishing just two one-hundredths shy of tying the school-record set by Solomon Afful in 2016.
Event victories from
Mohamed Ahmed in the weight throw (19.25 meters, 63 ft. – 2 in.) and
Ben Okraska in the pole vault (4.28 meters, 14 ft. – 0.5 in.) would highlight the field performances for Cloud County as Nyingaun would add a fourth-place finish in the long jump (6.62 meters, 21 ft. – 8.75 in. and Rivera earning sixth in the high jump with a mark of 1.74 meters (5 ft. – 8.5 in.). Other top field performances for the Cloud County men included a seventh-place finish from
Vincent Ugwoke in the shot put (14.31 meters, 46 ft. – 11.5 in.) and Rivera in the pole vault (3.53 meters, 11 ft. – 7 in.).
Having an equally impressive day of their own on the track would be the T-Bird women an event win from
Vimbayi Maisvorewa in the 600 meters with a national qualifying time of 1:36.23 along with the distance medley relay team of
Ludjenie Mondesir,
Sicely Jackson,
Abigail Fisher, and
Melody Ochana winning their event in a national qualifying time of 12:44.07. Mondesir would go on to also qualify individually in the 1,000 meters with a runner-up finish in a time of 3:10.67 while Fisher placed fourth after posting a time of 3:17.64.
The other two event wins for CCCC would come in the 60-meter hurdles courtesy of a season-best time from
Miracle Thompson (8.74) as well as a season-best time from
Leonie Beu in the 400 meters (56.61 seconds). Adding runner-up finishes would be
Isila Apkup in the 60 meters (7.77),
Passion Crews in the 800 meters (2:26.67), Ochana in the 3,000 meters (11:08.47),
Maggie Armstrong in the pole vault (3.20 meters, 10 ft. – 6 in.), and
Vanessa Mercera in the long jump (5.22 meters, 17 ft. – 1.5 in.) as CCCC would have 10 top-two finishes on the day.
What's Next?
Cloud County will split their squads for this upcoming weekend's action as some athletes will compete in the University of Nebraska Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational while a majority of the team will find themselves at the Herm Wilson Invitational on the campus of Wichita State University. Both meets will begin on Friday, February 4th before concluding action on Saturday, February 5th.
