Cloud County Women's Track Posts 15 National Qualifying Marks, One Meet Record in Season Opener
The Cloud County Community College women's track and field team couldn't ask for a much better opening meet to the season as the T-Birds posted 15 national qualifying marks, two event wins, and one meet record to finish in second place out of 22 teams at the 2024 Washburn University Rust Buster Classic held inside the Washburn University Indoor Athletic Facility in Topeka, Kansas on Saturday, January 20th.
Finishing just seven points back of host and team champion Washburn, Cloud County finished with 74 points on the day to outpace third-place finisher Missouri Southern State (60 points) and fourth-place finisher Barton Community College (56 points). Rounding out the top-five in the team scoring was NCAA Division I Missouri State University with 45.5 points as the meet featured teams from NCAA Division I, II, the NAIA, and NJCAA.
A near split between field events and track events accounting for the national qualifying marks saw CCCC have six individuals account for eight national qualifying marks in field events including three different qualifiers in the pole vault. Leading the way was sophomore Jasmine Sakaguchi in the pole vault by clearing 3.30 meters (10 ft. – 10 in.) while both Elizabeth Dunham (3.20 meters, 10 ft. – 6 in.) and Bradie Medina (3.15 meters, 10 ft. – 4 in.) finished with national qualifying marks in their T-Bird track debuts. All three currently rank in the top eight of the NJCAA in the pole vault following their performances.
Remaining national qualifying marks in field events by CCCC on Saturday saw Shackala Henry clear 1.65 meters (5 ft. – 5 in.) in the high jump to place third out of 15 competitors with the fourth-best mark in the NJCAA this season while both Adrienne Locke-Garcia and Tamara Thompson posted national qualifying marks in two events each. Following marks of 15.56 meters (51 ft. – 0.75 in.) from Locke-Garcia and 15.02 meters (49 ft. – 3.5 in.) from Thompson in the weight throw, the duo recorded marks of 13.13 meters (43 ft. – 1 in.) from Locke-Garcia and 12.64 meters (41 ft. – 5.75 in.) from Thompson in the shot put to put up top-10 NJCAA marks in both events. The mark in the weight throw by Locke-Garcia was the seventh-best out of a 77-competitor field while both finished in the top 12 out of 76 athletes in the shot put.
An impressive showing on the track saw freshman Chenessa Davis run a qualifying time of 9.05 in the preliminary round of the 60-meter hurdles before running a national qualifying time of 8.99 in the finals to take sixth out of 28 runners for the first of seven national qualifying marks by T-Birds in track events. A meet record and event win for Mercy Angaamchaab came in the 600-yard run with a time of 1:27.20 to edge out teammate Nontokozo Ncube who finished second with a time of 1:27.31 as both ran later as part of the 4x400 meter relay team of Franca Nwachukwu, Angaamchaab, Ncube, and Rafiatu Nuhu for an event winning and national qualifying time of 3:54.89. Nuhu went on to post national qualifying times on her own with second-place finishes in both the 200 meters (24.75) and 400 meters (56.20). N Vanee Anchike also was able to run national qualifying times in two events, with both the mile run (5:09.49) and 800 meters (2:16.75) accounting for top-five individual finishes. The 15th and final national qualifying mark recorded by a CCCC athlete on Saturday came in the 3,000 meters, with Ozia Trujillo running a time of 10:46.39 to clear the qualifying standard of 10:48.96 to qualify for the National Championship meet in March.
What's Next?
Cloud County heads south while staying in the Sunflower State to compete in the 2024 Herm Wilson Invitational hosted by Wichita State University. The meet, which will take place inside the Heskett Center, is scheduled to begin with multi-events on Thursday, January 25th before additional competition on Friday, January 26th, and a full day of action on Saturday, January 27th.