Cloud County's Nontokozo Ncube Sets School-Record in 800 Meters at 2024 KU Relays

For the second day in a row, the Cloud County Community College track and field teams had a school-record fall to close out a successful weekend at the 2024 Kansas Relays held at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kansas.

Finishing with another 13 top-10 finishes to conclude action on Saturday afternoon, CCCC saw freshman Nontokozo Ncube run a school-record time of 2:09.62 in the 800 meters to break the previous record of 2:10.84 previously held by Angelina Williams which was set during the 2011 season. Earning a third-place finish in the event, Ncube was joined by a fourth-place finish from Tamara Thompson in the discus (50.55 meters, 165 ft. - 10 in.) to highlight a pair of top-five finishes for the T-Bird women with Chenessa Davis adding an eighth-place finish in the long jump (5.55 meters, 18 ft. - 2.5 in.). The remaining top-10 mark recorded by the CCCC women on Saturday came in the discus with Adrienne Locke-Garcia taking ninth out of 22 competitors with a throw of 42.11 meters (138 ft. - 2 in.).

Accounting for nine top-10 finishes including the best finish of the day were the Cloud County men with Siyabonga Mokgothu running a personal-best time to take runner-up in the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9:09.91) while seeing Kamogelo Thipe (1:51.19) and Ishmael Acheampong (1:51.89) place fourth and sixth in the 800 meters. Adding a third top-eight finish in the 800 meters was Nichalas Power after placing eighth (1:54.62) with the 110-meter hurdles also accounting for a pair of top-eight finishes with Brandon Hutchinson (14.94 seconds) and Bradley Nkosi (15.25 seconds) placing back-to-back in fifth and sixth. In the 400-meter hurdles, Ifeanyichukwu Aninze took fifth with a time of 53.76 seconds with the remaining track top-eight coming in the 4x400-meter relay with a time of 3:20.06 to take sixth. In field events, Cloud County saw Corey Ottey place eighth in the high jump after clearing 2.06 meters (6 ft. - 9 in.).

What's Next?
One final tune-up ahead of the 2024 NJCAA Region VI Outdoor Track Championships is on the schedule for the T-Birds with CCCC set to head to the Ward Haylett Invitational hosted by Kansas State University on April 26th and 27th. A final schedule will be released early next week with action tentatively scheduled to begin at 12 PM on Friday, April 26th, and going throughout the day Friday before resuming at 11 AM on Saturday.