Cloud County Men's Track & Field Team Posts 11 Top-10 Finishes at 2023 KT Woodman Classic
Recording 11 top-10 finishes, including event victories in the triple jump and hammer throw, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team would set three more national qualifying marks while competing at the 2023 KT Woodman Classic held inside Cessna Stadium on the campus of Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.
With a total of 40 teams in attendance over the course of the two-day meet, no team scores would be recorded with teams representing NCAA Division I, II, III, the NAIA, and NJCAA at the meet.
Friday Recap:
All three of the new national qualifying performances would come on day one of action as the afternoon and evening would see a pair of top-five finishes come on the track for the T-Birds with Siyabonga Mokgothu running a time of 9:34.83 in the 3,000-meter steeplechase for a fourth-place finish with the time currently ranking sixth among all NJCAA Division I runners. Later into the night in the final event of the first day, sophomore Kidus Misgina would run a time of 30:46.26 in the 10,000 meters to finish fourth while currently sitting as the only track athlete in the NJCAA to run a 10,000-meter time under 31 minutes this season. CCCC would also get a national qualifying mark in the javelin courtesy of Hemon Joseph who would record a throw of 51.98 meters (170 ft. – 6 in.) to punch his ticket to the National Championship meet in May while placing 11th out of 30 throwers in the event.
Saturday Recap:
With the strong start on Friday setting up the potential for another good day of action, Cloud County would see two event victories come in field events with Mohamed Ahmed once again eclipsing the 200 feet mark in the hammer throw by recording a mark of 63.69 meters (208 ft. – 11 in.) to best a 29-person field before seeing Awakhiwe Ndlovu take first in the triple jump after a leap of 14.75 meters (48 ft. – 4.75 in.). The T-Birds would also get a top-10 finish in the pole vault coming from Ben Okraska who would clear 4.50 meters (14 ft. – 9.25 in.) to take 10th to finish as the top NJCAA pole vault athlete in the meet.
On the track, both the 4x100 meter relay team (Emmanuel Anis, Mason Schurr, Jonathan Dende, and Alphonse Igish) and the 4x400 meter relay team (Hassan Abidi, Dende, Schurr, and Daniel Siaffa) would record top-10 finishes with the 4x100 relay team running a time of 42.91 seconds to take 10th while the 4x400 relay team would close out the meet in the final event with a time of 3:19.81 to take fourth. The highest individual finish by a Cloud County runner on Saturday would come in the 400 meters as the T-Birds would have three runners finish in the top 10 with Leroy Kamau placing a team-best sixth with a time of 48.34 seconds to beat out teammates Siaffa (eighth, 48.64 seconds) and Emmanuel Wanga (ninth, 48.74 seconds). Siaffa would also post a seventh-place finish in the 400-meter hurdles by running a time of 53.98 seconds with teammate Anson Moses just missing out on a top-10 finish by placing 11th with a time of 55.41 seconds.
What's Next?
Cloud County will split their squad for the first time in the 2023 outdoor season in the coming week with athletes competing in the University of Kansas Relays and Bethel College Invitational. Action in Lawrence at the KU Relays is set to begin on Thursday, April 13th, and run through Saturday, April 15th while the Bethel College Invitational will take place on Saturday the 15th in North Newton, Kansas.