USTFCCCA News and Notes

By Howard Willman, USTFCCCA
May 21, 2022  

The champions were crowned at 2022 NJCAA Division I Outdoor Athletics Championships!

The match took place at Gowans Stadium in Hutchinson, Kansas.

CLICK HERE FOR MEET RESULTS

The South Plains (Texas) men and Iowa Western CC women lived up to their No. 1 ranking by winning tag team titles at the Nationals.

Keep reading below to find out what happened in the Sunflower State.

Summary for men

South Plains – co-champions last year – ensured there were no shared team honors this year by securing at least a share of their 13th title since 2007. The Texans scored 104 points by edging out their closest pursuer, a spirited Iowa Western CC team with 85 points.

The Texans had the most winners in the men’s competition with five. Kudakwashe Chadenga won the high jump at 2.22m (7-3¼) by tying his best score, earning him = No. 9 all-time in NJCAA history. He was joined by Thomas Nieto in the 5.30m pole vault (17-4½) and Caio Almeida in the 400 hurdles, 52.00 of which led a Texas finish 1-4 with NJCAA record holder Chris Robinson. The Texans also won two relays, the 4×800 Thursday (7:39.00 a.m.) and the 4×400 final (3:11.05 a.m.).

Four other programs have won a pair of champions. Iowa Western won the 110 hurdles with Cortney Watkins in a wind-assisted 13.65 leading a 1-5 Reiver finish) and discus with Shakiel Dacres with a PR 54.77m (179-8). Barton (Kan.) CC won the 400m with Elijah Mosley in 47.22, while Anthony Woods won Thursday’s long jump with a wind assist of 7.64m (25-0¾) with Shakwon Coke completing a Cougar 1-2.

Butler (Kan.) CC won the 200m with Jerod Elcock in a wind assisted 20.45. Elcock, a 100 runner-up, was also a member of the Grizzlies’ winning 4×100 (39.70 after a nation-leading 39.54 in the innings). Colby (Kan.) CC won the most distance events with Ricardo Barbosa taking the steeplechase in 8:51.45 and Sanele Masondo winning the 5000 in 14:31.61.

Elcock and Masondo shared top individual point scoring honors for the men with New Mexico JC’s Evans Polotet with 18 points. Polotet won the 1500m (3:56.97) and was second in the 800m. Masondo also finished second in the 10,000m.

Summary of women

Iowa Western looked unstoppable as they claimed their first-ever outdoor tag team crown. The Reivers won six event titles, the most of any program in the competition, scoring 117 points to hold off New Mexico JC (98), Cloud County (Kan.) CC (92) and Barton (Kan.) CC (92) .

Hilda Chebet contributed 30 points, winning three events – the 10,000 on Thursday followed by a 1500/5000 double on Saturday. Other winners for the Reivers were Alliyah McNeil in the high jump at 1.82m (5-11½), Miracle Ailes in the long jump at 6.62m (21-8¾), Victory George in the triple jump at 12.46 mw (40-10½w) and Antonia Sealy in the heptathlon at 4872.

The disc provided the story, courtesy of Princess Kara of central Arizona. Kara recorded the two furthest marks in NJCAA history, first in Round 2 at 56.51m (185-4) and again in Round 5 at 56.23m (184-5 ). Both were further than the NJCAA all-time record of 55.84m (183-3) set by Ilona Rutges (also of central Arizona) in 2002.

Central Arizona and Butler (Kan.) CC were the only programs besides Iowa Western to collect multiple titles. The Vaqueras saw Juvonna Cornette join Kara at the top of the podium (winning the 100 in a wind-assisted 11.42), while Butler swept the 4×100 and 4×400 relays with times of 45.62 and 3: 45.04, respectively.

After Chebet’s 30 points in the individual events, three women scored 18 each. McNeil added a second-place finish in the long jump to her high jump win. Success Umukoro of South Plains (Texas) won the 200m (23.65 wind assisted) and was second in the 100m, while steeplechase winner Emma Hoins of Hawkeye (Kan.) CC (11:07.37) added a second place in the 1500s.