Results
TOPEKA, Kan. – In their final tune-up prior to next week's NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track and Field Championships, the Cloud County Community College women's and men's track and field teams would combine for seven new national qualifying marks and one school record at the 2023 Washburn University Mid-Week Challenge inside the Indoor Athletic Facility in Topeka, Kansas on Thursday, February 9th.
With seven men's teams and six women's teams taking part in the meet, both the T-Bird men and women would finish as meet runner-up to NCAA Division I Wichita State University who would win both team titles. The men's scoring would see the Shockers tally 126 total points to edge out the 122 points scored by Cloud County with Emporia State a distant third with 40 total points while the women's scoring would have WSU as the only team to eclipse the 100-point mark by scoring 142 compared to CCCC's 90 which was good for second. Rounding out the top three in the women's scoring would be NCAA Division II Northwest Missouri State University with 87 total points as no other team would score more than 28 points in the meet.
Accounting for four of the seven new national qualifying marks and the new school record would be the Cloud County men with all four of the marks finishing in the top four of their respective events. Winning the weight throw with a school-record toss of 20.38 meters (66 ft. – 10.5 in.) would be
Mohamed Ahmed with the top throw in the NJCAA this season while teammate
Vincent Ugwoke would place third and with a national qualifying mark of 16.16 meters (53 ft. – 0.25 in.). Ugwoke would also add an event victory in the shot put by recording a mark of 15.31 meters (50 ft. – 2.75 in.) to earn top-three finishes in both of his events and record one of seven event wins by the T-Bird men.
Two national qualifying marks would come in the 400 meters with Leroy Kamau (47.83 seconds) and
Emmanuel Wanga (47.99) both running a time under 48 seconds for the first time this season to place first and third in the event out of a 29-runner field. The final national qualifying mark set by the CCCC men would come from Siyabonga Mokgothu in the 800 meters by posting a time of 1:56.15 for a fourth-place finish as Cloud County would also have
Quwayne Reid (1:55.57) and
Raziel Patton (1:55.69) finish in second and third to give the T-Birds three runners finish in the top-four of the event.
Running a new-season best and setting a meet record would be the 4x400 meter relay team of
Hassan Abidi, Reid, Leroy Kamau, and Wanga with a time of 3:14.56. Other wins by the T-Bird men would come from
Oageng Mdlela in both the long jump (6.93 meters, 22 ft. – 9 in.) and triple jump (15.31 meters, 50 ft. – 2.75 in.) and Mokgothu in the 1,000 meters (2:35.56) as CCCC would have the top-three finishers in the 1,000 meters with Patton (2:35.60) and
Kidus Misgina (2:38.17) taking second and third.
On the women's side, three different athletes for Cloud County would account for the three national qualifying marks for the T-Birds with
Lucy Ndungu earning the lone event win for CCCC in the 1,000 meters with a national qualifying time of 3:10.41.
Vimbayi Maisvorewa would qualify for the national championship meet in the 200 meters by running a time of 24.62 seconds in her first time running the event this season while
Passion Crews would post a time of 57.97 seconds in the 400 meters to punch her ticket to nationals.
Other top marks recorded by Cloud County on Thursday would include a third-place finish from
Jasmine Sakaguchi in the pole vault by clearing 3.47 meters (11 ft. – 4.5 in.) while
Mallory Callihan would finish second in the weight throw (14.53 meters, 47 ft. – 8 in.) and third in the shot put (11.69 meters, 38 ft. – 4.25 in.). CCCC would also have runner-up finishes come from
Emmy Punches in the 1,000 meters (3:27.32) and the 4x400 meter relay team of
Vanessa Mercera, Crews,
Lela Singleton, and Maisvorewa with a time of 3:50.60.
What's Next?
Cloud County's first trip to the Robert W. Plaster Center on the campus of Pittsburg State University will come next weekend when they join 13 other schools from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference to take part in the 2023 NJCAA Region VI/KJCCC Indoor Track and Field Championships. The two-day meet will begin on Saturday, February 18th with final day action occurring on Sunday, February 19th with both T-Bird teams looking to defend their Region VI Indoor Track and Field Titles. The T-Bird men have won each of the last four NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track Championships while the CCCC women earned their third NJCAA Region VI Indoor Track Title in program history last season by picking up their second consecutive Region VI Indoor Championship.
