Cloud County Men's Track & Field Team Wins 2024 Region VI Outdoor Team Title
Holding a three-point lead after two days of action and needing a strong close to find their way back atop the NJCAA Region VI Championship leaderboard, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team held off reigning NJCAA Region VI Champions Barton Community College to win their second NJCAA Region VI Outdoor Track Championship in the past three years at the Bill Keller Family Sports Complex in Pratt, Kansas on Saturday, May 4th.
Going into Saturday with 39 total points and holding a slim lead over second-place Barton, the advantage from the first two days of competition proved to be enough to earn the team title as CCCC finished with 131 total points by scoring 92 points on the final day to edge out the Cougars who finished with 127 points to finish as Region VI Runners-Up. Hutchinson claimed third place with a total of 107.5 points with Coffeyville (96 points) and Fort Scott (95 points) rounding out the top-five in the team scoring.
Totaling 18 top-eight finishes and having three individuals earn NJCAA Region VI Titles in their respective events, CCCC got an even mix of points from both field events and track events with seven field event marks accounting for 41 of the 92 points. Earning Region VI Titles were Awkhiwe Ndlovu in the triple jump (15.60 meters, 51 ft. – 2.25 in.) and Corey Ottey in the high jump (2.07 meters, 6 ft. – 9.5 in.) along with Siyabonga Mokgothu on the track in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:32.93). All three events had an additional top-eight finisher for the T-Birds with Oageng Mdlela taking second in the triple jump (15.03 meters, 49 ft. – 3.75 in.), Trey Collins finishing fifth in the high jump (1.97 meters, 6 ft. – 5.5 in.), and Felix Surtan placing eighth in the steeplechase (10:25.07). Cloud County also got points in field events in the shot put with Andre Smikle taking seventh (13.72 meters, 45 ft. – 0.25 in.) while seeing both Skylar McFarling and Brandon Hutchinson clear 4.22 meters (13 ft. – 10 in.) in the pole vault to take fifth and sixth.
On the track, the 800 meters accounted for an additional 19 team points with Nichalas Power (1:51.84), Kamogelo Thipe (1:52.12), and Ishmael Acheampong (1:52.56) finishing in second, third, and fourth of the event. Other events with multiple top-eight finishers included the 1,500 meters with Mokgothu (3:59.43) taking fourth and Nirmit Dahiya (4:02.60) placing sixth out of 26 runners while the 400-meter hurdles saw Ifeanyichukwu finish fourth (53.52 seconds) and Bradley Nkosi (54.18 seconds) take seventh. The remaining points for CCCC on the track included a fourth-place finish from the 4x400 meter relay team (Kevin Brooks, Ottey, Thipe, and Power) combining for a time of 3:11.85 while Hutchinson placed eighth in the 110-meter hurdles (22.46 seconds).
What's Next?
Just one more meet is on the schedule for Cloud County with the 2024 NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track Championships set to take place May 16-18 on the campus of the University of Louisiana-Monroe in Monroe, Louisiana. A full list of qualified individuals for CCCC will be posted prior to the meet once entries are completed based on qualified athletes in each respective event for the championship meet.