Cloud County Men's Track Opens Outdoor Season with 12 National Qualifying Marks
Following a three-week layoff between the indoor and outdoor seasons, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team would waste no time putting up big numbers to record 12 national qualifying marks as part of eight event victories at the 2023 Cowley College Mark A. Phillips Tiger Invitational at the Cowley College Track in Arkansas City, Kansas on Saturday, March 25th.
In total, Cloud County would have 25 total marks or times finish in the top five of their respective events throughout the day as no team scores would be kept for the meet that featured eight teams from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.
On the track, the T-Birds would see a quick start come from Leroy Kamau with two event wins in the 100 meters (10.52 seconds) and 200 meters (20.99 seconds) with both times qualifying for the 2023 NJCAA National Championship meet before going on to anchor the 4x100 meter relay team of Emmanuel Anis, Alphonse Igish, Emmanuel Wanga, and Kamau that would win the event and run a qualifying time of 40.74 seconds. Anis would join Kamau in the 100 meters to post a second-place finish in a national qualifying time of 10.57 seconds while seeing Igish finish as one of four CCCC runners (Shadrick Tansi, Jonathan Dende, and Mason Schurr) to finish in the top five of the 400 meters. Tansi would win the event with a national qualifying time of 48.30 seconds while seeing Dende post a time of 48.80 seconds for a third-place finish with Igish taking fourth (49.17 seconds) and Schurr taking fifth (49.60 seconds).
Other event wins on the track for Cloud County would see Hassan Abidi run a national qualifying time of 1:53.62 to win the 800 meters just ahead of teammates Raziel Patton (1:53.67, national qualifying time) and Quwayne Reid (1:55.73) who would finish in second and third, respectively while Siyabonga Mokgothu would qualify for the national championship meet in the 1,500 meters after running an event-winning time of 4:01.75. Runner-up finishes would come from Anson Moses in the 110-meter hurdles (15.12) and Daniel Siaffa in the 400-meter hurdles (54.88 seconds, national qualifying mark) along with the 4x400 meter relay team of Dende, Wanga, Igish, and Kamau (3:19.23). Quinn Bertrand and Paul Tasset would also score top-five finishes on the track in the 400-meter hurdles, running times of 59.81 seconds (Bertrand) and 1:05.01 (Tasset) to finish in fourth and fifth.
Adding three more national qualifying marks in field events, CCCC would be led by event wins from Ben Okraska in the pole vault (4.62 meters, 15 ft. – 1.75 in.) and Oageng Mdlela in the triple jump (14.93 meters, 48 ft. – 11.75 in.) with both marks clearing the national qualifying standard. The T-Birds would also see Mohamed Ahmed punch his ticket for nationals in the hammer throw by recording a mark of 64.26 meters (210 ft. – 10 in.) to take second among a 21-participant field while also seeing Arne Roehl take second in the high jump (1.97 meters, 6 ft. – 5.5 in.), Davis Mick take fourth in the javelin (48.84 meters, 160 ft. – 3 in.), and Lubo Zlatev finish in fifth in the long jump (6.92 meters, 22 ft. – 8.5 in.).
What's Next?
Cloud County will be back in action on Friday, March 31st to open up the first day of the two-day Friends University Falcon Open which will be held at Adair-Austin Stadium in Wichita, Kansas.