Cloud County Track & Field Teams Shines in Lone Home Event of 2023
20 event victories and four meet records would highlight the Cloud County Community College women's and men's track and field teams' lone home meet of the season as the T-Birds hosted the 2023 Thunderbird Invitational at Harold M. Clark Stadium in Concordia, Kansas on Saturday, April 22nd.
Of the 20 event victories, 13 would come from the CCCC women in addition to three of the four meet records as the T-Birds would post strong marks throughout the day with action taking place throughout the afternoon. In total, six teams from the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference would be represented at the meet in addition to a handful of unattached athletes.
Women's Recap:
Both field events and track events would lead to event victories for the T-Bird women as the day would get started with event victories from Tamara Thompson in the discus (46.68 meters, 153 ft. – 2 in.), Vanessa Mercera in the long jump (5.32 meters, 17 ft. – 5.5 in.), and Jasmine Sakaguchi in the pole vault (3.57 meters, 11 ft. – 8.5 in.) after beating out teammate Mia Manley in a jump-off as the sophomore would also tie for the meet record in the event. The high jump would also lead to a meet record in the field events for the CCCC women with teammates Shackala Henry and Mercera both clearing 1.72 meters (5 ft. – 7.75 in.) to finish in a tie for first out of seven competitors in the event.
Other top marks for Cloud County in field events would include runner-up finishes from Mallory Callihan in the hammer throw (44.05 meters, 144 ft. – 6 in.), Tamara Thompson in the shot put (11.91 meters, 39 ft. – 1 in.), and Tahisha Thompson in the discus (39.40 meters, 129 ft. – 3 in.) in addition to third-place finishes from in the hammer throw (Tahisha Thompson), javelin (Emmy Punches), and Mariem Soltani (high jump).
On the track, the T-Birds would see eight event wins starting with Mary Kua in the 1,500 meters after a time of 5:18.94 to edge out Nikola Prochazkova who took second with a time of 5:19.48 before going on later in the day to win the 5,000 meters with a time of 19:45.54. Miracle Thompson would record two event wins by running the top time in the 100-meter hurdles (13.71 seconds) and 100-meter dash (11.90 seconds) before seeing Passion Crews set a meet-record in the 800 meters to win with a time of 2:18.05. Adding to a strong day in field events, Mercera would also pick up an event win in the 400-meter hurdles (1:06.41 seconds) while Vimbayi Maisvorewa would win the 200 meters (24.27 seconds) for two of the three remaining event wins. The lone CCCC relay team would come in the 4x400 meter relay where Kua, Sakaguchi, Bailey Rock, and Soltani would come together to run a winning time of 4:35.68 to finish off the meet with their 13th and final victory of the afternoon. In addition to the event wins on the track, Cloud County would see runner-up finishes come from Mercera in the 100-meter hurdles (14.52 seconds), Lela Singleton in the 400 meters (1:02.20), Maisvorewa in the 100 meters (12.07 seconds), and Lucy Ndungu in both the 800 meters (2:21.17) and 5,000 meters (19:45.85).
Men's Recap:
It wouldn't take long for the CCCC men to pick up an event win and meet record when things would get started as sophomore Mohamed Ahmed would break his own meet record in the hammer throw by recording a mark of 63.77 meters (209 ft. – 3 in.) to best 13 other throws including teammate Davis Mick who would take third with a throw of 45.94 meters (150 ft. – 9 in.). Also picking up an event win in the throwing events would be Vincent Ugwoke in his lone event of the day by recording a throw of 44.87 meters (147 ft. – 2 in.) in the discus before seeing Awakhiwe Ndlovu win the triple jump with a leap of 4.90 meters (48 ft. – 10.75 in.). Other top field-event marks for Cloud County would include runner-up finishes in the javelin from Brandon Hutchinson (47.05 meters, 154 ft. – 4 in.) and high jump by Arne Roehl (1.92 meters, 6 ft. – 3.5 in.) while seeing Oageng Mdlela take third in the long jump (6.58 meters, 21 ft. – 7.25 in.).
An additional four event victories for the T-Birds would come on the track with Quwayne Reid running the winning time 800 meters (1:57.62) before going on to run the anchor leg of the 4x400 meter relay team of Mason Schurr, Jonathan Dende, Hassan Abidi, and Reid with a time of 3:47.94. Also picking up an event win would be Anson Moses in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 56.73 seconds following a runner-up finish in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 15.06 seconds. Other runner-up finishes would include the 4x100 meter relay team of Dende, Daniel Siaffa, Schurr, and Mdlela with a time of 43.63 seconds along with Raziel Patton in the 1,500 meters (4:16.54), Abidi in the 400 meters (49.43 seconds), Leroy Kamau in both the 100 meters (10.54 seconds) and 200 meters (21.48 seconds) and Quinn Bertrand in the 400-meter hurdles (58.60 seconds). The 200 meters would total five T-Birds in the top eight with Shadrick Tansi (21.76 seconds), Anis (21.91 seconds), Emmanuel Wanga (21.93 seconds), and Siaffa (21.93 seconds) finishing in third, fourth, fifth, and seventh alongside the runner-up finish from Kamau.
What's Next?
Just one more meet is currently scheduled in the regular season for Cloud County as CCCC will head to the University of Kansas Rock Chalk Classic in Lawrence, Kansas on Saturday, April 29th. It will be the second time in the span of three weeks that the T-Birds will compete in Lawrence after having previously competed at the 2023 KU Relays back on April 13-15.