Tiger track teams get look at national championship venue
January 22, 2013
With this year's NJCAA National Indoor Track and Field Championships set to take place at Texas Tech University, this weekend's Texas Tech Masked Rider Open served as a great way for the Cowley College men and women's track and field athletes to get a first hand look at where they hope to be competing at in March.
Competing against NCAA, NAIA and JUCO programs, the Tigers had several outstanding performances as they combined to achieve 10 national qualifying marks.
Freshman Rachel Cuffy continued her strong start to the season by breaking the school record in the 200-meter dash. Cuffy's time of 25.44 eclipsed the previous school record time of 25.78 set by Xandria Cash during the 2009 season.
Along with hitting the national qualifying standard in the 200-meter dash, Cuffy also qualified for nationals in the 55-meter dash by placing ninth with a time of 7.22.
The Lady Tiger middle distance team of Kelly Roberts, Vanessa Rodriguez, Valerie Nielson, and Julia Stafford placed eighth with a national qualifying time of 13:17.47.
The Cowley women also got some strong performances from its field athletes as sophomore Niki Andrews hit the national qualifying mark in the high jump (5-1 ), Sandra Morgan qualified for nationals in the shot put (41-0 ), and throwers Jamesia Milton (51-3 ) and Lacey Tipton (49-5 ) eclipsed the qualifying standard in the weight throw.
On the men's side, sophomore Darryl Brown qualified for nationals in the 55-meter dash (6.49) and 200-meter dash (22.26). Freshman Darragh Rennicks made his season debut and qualified for nationals in the 3,000-meter run by placing 11th with a time of 8:55.65.
The Tigers will be back in action Friday when they take part in the Kansas Jayhawk Invite in Lawrence.
Results:
WOMEN
Competing against NCAA, NAIA and JUCO programs, the Tigers had several outstanding performances as they combined to achieve 10 national qualifying marks.
Freshman Rachel Cuffy continued her strong start to the season by breaking the school record in the 200-meter dash. Cuffy's time of 25.44 eclipsed the previous school record time of 25.78 set by Xandria Cash during the 2009 season.
Along with hitting the national qualifying standard in the 200-meter dash, Cuffy also qualified for nationals in the 55-meter dash by placing ninth with a time of 7.22.
The Lady Tiger middle distance team of Kelly Roberts, Vanessa Rodriguez, Valerie Nielson, and Julia Stafford placed eighth with a national qualifying time of 13:17.47.
The Cowley women also got some strong performances from its field athletes as sophomore Niki Andrews hit the national qualifying mark in the high jump (5-1 ), Sandra Morgan qualified for nationals in the shot put (41-0 ), and throwers Jamesia Milton (51-3 ) and Lacey Tipton (49-5 ) eclipsed the qualifying standard in the weight throw.
On the men's side, sophomore Darryl Brown qualified for nationals in the 55-meter dash (6.49) and 200-meter dash (22.26). Freshman Darragh Rennicks made his season debut and qualified for nationals in the 3,000-meter run by placing 11th with a time of 8:55.65.
The Tigers will be back in action Friday when they take part in the Kansas Jayhawk Invite in Lawrence.
Results:
WOMEN
- 55-meter dash - Rachel Cuffy, 7.22, ninth, national qualifier; Rakiyah Taylor, 7.55, 34th; Earriel Willis, 7.62, 39th.
- 200-meter dash - Cuffy, 25.46, 16th, national qualifier, school record; Willis, 27.43, 66th; Taylor, 27.64, 68th; Kia Montgomery, 28.39, 83rd; Ester Micheva, 29.72, 91st.
- 600-yard run - Dani St. Clair, 1:33.01, 14th.
- 800-meter run - Valerie Nielson, 2:26.87, 13th; Kelly Roberts, 2:32.30, 19th; St. Clair, 2:34.24, 23rd; Vanessa Rodriguez, 2:37.46, 29th.
- 3,000-meter run - Julia Stafford, 11:16.04, 15th.
- 5,000-meter run - Karly Hartley, 21:18.57, 10th.
- 4x400-meter relay - Cowley "A" (Willis, St. Clair, Montgomery, Cuffy), 4:17.68, 22nd.
- Distance Medley relay - Cowley "A" (Roberts, Rodriguez, Nielson, Stafford), 13:17.47, eighth, national qualifier.
- High jump - Niki Andrews, 5-1 , 14th, national qualifier.
- Long jump - Cuffy, 16-4 , 13th.
- Shot put - Sandra Morgan, 41-0 , first, national qualifier; Jamesia Milton, 40-2, fifth.
- Weight throw - Milton, 51-3 , fifth, national qualifier; Lacey Tipton, 49-5 , eighth, national qualifier; Kira Vega, 43-9, 13th; Morgan, 39-9 , 19th.
- 55-meter dash - Darryl Brown, 6.49, 10th, national qualifier; Tim Young, 6.68, 31st; Tucker Davis, 6.73, 42nd.
- 200-meter dash - Brown, 22.26, 10th, national qualifier; Davis, 22.68, 24th; Eric Gibson, 22.82, 28th; Young, 23.07, 40th.
- 400-meter dash - Gibson, 51.23, 29th; Willie Bromell, 52.49, 44th; Ashton Irvin, 54.95, 66th.
- 600-yard run - Irvin, 1:21.76, 48th.
- 800-meter run - Ricky Spess, 2:00.17, 25th; Joshua Beal, 2:06.22, 45th; Isaac Dyer, 2:08.53, 53rd; Robert Harp 2:15.24, 65th.
- 3,000-meter run - Darragh Rennicks, 8:55.65, 11th, national qualifier; Eli Ybarra, 9:40.25, 30th; Nick Robinson, 9:44.74, 36th; Justin Shahan, 10:26.04, 41st.
- 5,000-meter run - Ybarra, 16:26.61, 10th; Sterlin Broomfield, 16:50.74, 17th; Robinson, 17:03.46, 19th.
- 55-meter hurdles - Rodgerick Woods, 7.97, 17th; Braden Lebeda, 8.20, 22nd.
- 4x400-meter relay - Cowley "A" (Davis, Gibson, Brown, Bromell), 3:25.89, 13th.
- High jump - Stefan Johnson, 6-4 , 14th.
- Pole vault - Colton Dillon, 14-1 , sixth.
- Shot put - Hosea Bottley, 46-10 , fifth.
- Weight throw - Fabien Murray, 48-4, fifth; Bottley, 48-1 , sixth.