Results
WICHITA, Kan. – Following up their opening weekend of the season with a three-day stop at the 2024 Wichita State University Herm Wilson Invitational, the Cloud County Community College men's indoor track and field team posted six new national qualifying marks inside the Heskett Center in Wichita, Kansas to close out their January portion of the 2023-24 schedule.
With the meet beginning on Thursday, January 25th, the T-Birds spent the last three days with athletes in action across a variety of events against teams from NCAA Division I, II, III, the NAIA, and NJCAA as no team scores were kept for the meet.
Thursday/Friday Results:
The first opportunity of the year for multi-event athletes to compete in the heptathlon found four different T-Birds taking part across seven different events with
Kevin Brooks (60 meters, 7.03 seconds),
Arne Roehl (high jump – 1.95 meters, 6 ft. – 4.75 in.) and
Brandon Hutchinson (60-meter hurdles – 8.44) all winning one of the events across the two days of competition. Following the conclusion of the seven events, Brooks finished with a team-best third-place finish after totaling 4,523 points by finishing in the top 10 of six of the seven events. Taking seventh among the 22-competitor field was Hutchinson with a total of 4,061 points while Roehl tallied 3,995 points to take 10th with all three currently ranking inside the top-12 on the NJCAA performance list.
Other results from Friday were a trio of T-Birds competing in the weight throw along with five runners taking part in the 5,000 meters as the duo of
Siyabonga Mokgothu (14:59.84) and
Nirmit Dahiya (15:04.54) both running national qualifying times as part of a one-two finish in the event among a 35-runner field. The weight throw saw
Andre Smikle (14.95 meters, 49 ft. – 0.75 in.),
Josh Shelly (14.30 meters, 46 ft. – 11 in.) and
Josh Deiter (13.43 meters, 44 ft. – 0.75 in.) all hit season-best marks in the event with Smikle finishing ninth.
Saturday Results:
A big day on Saturday for CCCC saw four total national qualifying marks hit with four different athletes qualifying across three different events. Starting the day out with the high jump,
Corey Ottey cleared 2.00 meters (6 ft. – 6.75 in.) to take third and qualify for the National Championship meet in March while both
Trey Collins and Roehl managed to clear 1.90 meters (6 ft. – 2.75 in.). In the long jump, it was
Lubo Zlatev punching his ticket to nationals with a leap of 7.21 meters (23 ft. – 7.75 in.) to best a 42-competitor field while seeing
Awakhiwe Ndlovu hit a season-best mark of 6.91 meters (22 ft. – 8 in.) to take third. On the track, two additional national qualifying marks were set in the 1,000 meters with Dahiya placing second with a qualifying time of 2:31.86 to edge out teammate
Nichalas Power who finished third with a national qualifying time of 2:32.11. The T-Birds also had the fourth (
Kamogelo Thipe – 2:34.00) and sixth (
Ishmael Acheampong (2:36.08) place finishers in the event to finish with four runners in the top eight.
What's Next?
Split-squad action will find Cloud County heading to both the University of Nebraska Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational and the Washburn University Open beginning on Friday, February 2nd. Both meets are two-day meets, with action concluding on Saturday, February 3rd.
