Lady Tigers win third straight indoor conference title; Tiger men place third
Getting important points from its pole vaulters and shot putters, the Cowley College women’s track and field team captured its third straight Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division title. At the same time, the Tiger men finished third at the Region VI/Jayhawk Conference Championships held Saturday and Sunday in Pittsburg, KS.
The Lady Tigers (88 points) finished only two points behind third-place Cloud County (90 points) in the region standings. Hutchinson took home the region titles on both the men's (122 points) and women's (145 points) sides.
The East Division women's team title was won by Cowley College with 223 points, followed by Coffeyville in second with 174 points and Butler in third with 137 points. KJCCC Coaching honors were earned by Cloud County's Drew Mahin (KJCCC Women's Head Coach of the Year) and Garden City's Juliette Rios (KJCCC Women's Assistant Coach of the Year).
The Cowley women had nine conference champions, led by Aliyah Treat, who won the pole vault and was named the conference and region champion. The Lady Tigers' 4x800-meter relay team of Euvia Bennett, Zuzana Bokova, Marta Herrero-Lombardo, and Linda Filipova was also conference and region champions, winning the 4x800-meter relay with a time of 9:58.68.
Cowley's Kennedy Khamvongsa also performed well, breaking Richelle Farley's 16-year-old school record in the 60-meter hurdles.
"The ladies had a fantastic showing and were in the running to be top 3 in the region all the way until the final race of the meet," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said. "I was pleased with our effort and selflessness. It's really hard to point one way, because we got big points from all places on the team. Along with our pole vaulters and shot putters, we got huge conference and region points from Linda Filipova, Euvia Bennett, Zuzana Bokova, and Marta Herrero-Lombardo. All of these girls had four-plus events to do, so they had a lot on their plates for the Regional meet."
The Region 6 Women's Track Athlete of the Meet was Hutchinson's Mildred Rono, and the Region 6 Women's Field Athlete of the Meet was Hutchinson's Xylavene Beale, as the Lady Blue Dragons won their first NJCAA Region 6 Indoor Track and Field Championship team title in program history.
The Tiger men (39.5 points) finished ninth in the region and third in the Jayhawk Conference East standings, behind conference runner-up Allen (59 points)and Jayhawk East champion Coffeyville (109 points).
The Tiger men were led by Tyler Spivey, the conference and region champion in the pole vault, and Quintin Richardson, the conference champion in the high jump.
"Our guys did not have their best meet, but I am hoping we grow from this and continue to strive to improve our place for the outdoor season," Rieth said. "The men did have some standouts, with Tyler Spivey winning the pole vault and Brayden Sherwood getting third, and Joshua (Kais) Patton in the shot put and weight throw, as well as Quintin Richardson getting third in the high jump."
A year removed from winning their first NJCAA Region 6 Indoor Track and Field team title in program history, the Hutchinson Community College men's track and field team edged out Barton Community College to earn a second-consecutive NJCAA Region 6 Indoor Track Title to go back-to-back as Champions.
Barton's David Schenek and Emmanuel Dixon earned Region 6 Men's Coach of the Year and Region 6 Men's Assistant Coach of the Year honors, while Cougar athlete Chavez Penn was named Region 6 Field Athlete of the Meet. Butler picked up the remaining two awards, with Grizzly Itumeleng Ngxabazi earning Men's Top Point Scorer of the Meet while Kamohelo Ramatsebe earned Men's Track Athlete of the Meet.
The Tiger track and field teams will compete at the NJCAA Division I Indoor Championships on March 5-6 at Washburn University in Topeka, KS.
Region Results:
MEN
*Weight throw – Joshua Patton, 50-8, sixth; Seth Sanchez, 44-3, 15th; Cooper Leonard, 40-7, 20th.
*3,000-meter run –
*Pole vault – Tyler Spivey, 14-7, conference and region champ; Brayden Sherwood, 13-2, third.
*Shot put – Patton, 50-1, fourth; Leonard, 47-2, eighth; Sanchez, 40-3, 19th.
*High jump – Quintin Richardson, 6-7, conference champion/third in region; Clayton Lopeman, 6-0, 14th.
*Triple jump – Schnieders, 36-0, fifth.
*60-meter dash – Azayah Skannal, 7.14, 26th; Lopeman, 7.78, 35th.
*Mile run –
*200-meter dash – Skannal, 23.33, 27th; Jacob McIver, 24.39, 32nd.
*400-meter dash – McIver, 54.81, 23rd.
*800-meter run – Herson Rodriguez, 2:02.46, 19th.
*1,000-meter run – Alexis Realland, 2:30.56, conference champ/11th in region; Rodriguez, 2:40.53, 20th.
*Mile run – Realland, 4:16.86, conference champ/sixth in region. Eli Roberts, 4:54.29, 19th.
*3,000-meter run – Wilson Navarette, 9:18.09, conference champ/13th in region; Samuel Lovell, 9:19.16, 14th.
*5,000-meter run – Navarette, 16:09.03, 13th; Lovell, 16:21.41, 15th.
*4x400-meter relay – Cowley A (Skannal, Richardson, Rodriguez, McIver), 3:30.32, ninth.
*Distance Medley Relay – Cowley A (Rodriguez, McIver, Roberts, Conner Walker), 11:28.37, 11th.
*4x800-meter relay – Cowley A (Rodriguez, Roberts, Lovell, Walker), 8:31.42, seventh.
*Heptathlon – Nash Young, 4,117 points, fifth; Cam Ward, 3.141 points, 10th; Caleb Jameson, 2,937 points, 11th.
WOMEN
*Weight throw – Katie Cook, 46-0, conference champ/eighth; Jessi McDowell, 44-5, 11th; Natalia Mason, 41-3, 13th.
*High jump – Erika Wiese, 4-3, 12th.
*Long jump – Kennedy Khamvongsa, 17-8, seventh; Jadalynn Schnieders, 17-5, eighth.
*Triple jump – Wiese, 9.83, 14th.
*Pole vault – Aliyah Treat, 11-6 ½, conference/region champ; Elizabeth Brozek, 11-3, second; Ariana Gomez, 10-0, fifth.
*Shot put – McDowell, 38-1, eighth; Cook, 37-6, ninth; Mason, 36-0, 11th.
*60-meter hurdles – Kennedy Khamvongsa, 8.99, sixth; Treat, 9.07, eighth.
*600-meter run – Grace Knight, 1:42.24, conference champ/10th in region; Daynel Calvo, 1:48.63, 12th.
*800-meter run – Euvia Bennett, 2:19.73, conference champ/fourth in region; Zuzana Bokova, 2:24.49, sixth; Daynel Calvo, 2:41.32, 11th.
*1,000-meter run – Bennett, 3:06.50, conference champ/fifth in region; Linda Filipova, 3:08.11, sixth; Bokova, 3:10.61, seventh.
*Mile run – Filipova, 5:13.75, conference champ/fourth in region; Bennett, 5:15.52, fifth.
*3,000-meter run – Filipova, 10:37.44, conference champ/fifth in region; Marta Herrero-Lombardo, 11:19.42, 12th.
*5,000-meter run – Jasmine Calvo, 19:06.50, conference champ/fourth in region; Herrero-Lombardo, 19:39.51, seventh.
*4x400-meter relay – Cowley A (Knight, Schnieders, Treat, D. Calvo), 4:09.21, ninth.
*4x800-meter relay – Cowley A (Bennett, Bokova, Herrero-Lombardo, Filipova), 9:58.68, conference and region champs.
*Distance Medley Relay – Cowley A (Bennett, Knight, Bokova, Filipova), 12:17.23, conference champs/third in region.
*Pentathlon – Wiese, 2,618 points, conference champ/ninth in region.
