HOBBS—The South Plains College men's and women's track and field teams set six facility records on Saturday at the Ross Black Invitational at Ross Black Stadium on the campus of New Mexico Junior College.
Mauricia Prieto began the afternoon with a first place finish in the 200-meter dash crossing the line at 23.86. Safia Bright placed fourth in the women's 100-meter dash with a time of 11.81, as Joi Gill placed fifth with a time of 11.86. Natassha McDonald continues to take claim as one of the top sprinters in the country as the freshman from Toronto used a 53.46 in the women's 400-meter dash to take first.
"Both girls (Prieto and McDonald) work really hard in practice every day and that makes a lot of difference," South Plains head coach Erik Vance said. "They're both very talented, but the work they put in is definitely showing when it comes to meet time. What I'm really happy with is they are race planning very well. They're doing exactly what they are supposed to do when they run their race, and because of that, they're able to execute and hold people off down the stretch."
Leslie Romero used a time of 19.23.07 to take first in the women's 5000-meter run, while Seselia Dala posted a time of 40:58.18 in the women's 10000-meter run to take fourth overall.
Omotayo Abolaji, Taylor Hill, Bright and Prieto finished second in the 4x100 meter relay with their time of 45.14, while Latriceia Smith, Agnes Abrocquah, Prieto and McDonald posted a time of 3:42.21 in the 4x400 meter relay to capture first.
Melody Korie used a final mark of 19' 10.25" in the women's long jump to take fifth, while Felicia Frimpong took sixth with a jump of 19' 5.5". Jannia Price took second in the women's discus with a throw of 138' 9", while Katelyn Clarkston placed second in the javelin with a mark of 120' 8".
Junior Charles placed first overall in the men's 200-meter dash with a time of 21.20, while Montel Hood took fourth in the men's 400-meter dash with a time of 47.16. Felix Kosgei used a time of 34:01.74 in the men's 10000-meter run to take first for the Texans, while Meson Weh placed first in the 110-meter hurdles with a time of 14.55. Okeen Williams used a time of 50.90 to take first in the men's 400-meter hurdles, as Rayan Holmes placed second with a time of 51.11.
In the men's high jump, Kwaume McGee used a final mark of 6' 10.25" to take first for South Plains, while Jonathan Witt posted a mark of 13' 0.25" in the men's pole vault to capture the top spot. Derrick Monroe and Saahir Bethea claimed first and second in the men's long jump as Monroe soared 25' 0.5" while Bethea posted a mark of 24' 8.5". Mclendon hill used a throw of 52' 0" to take first in the shot put event, while Adrian Williams captured first in the men's javelin with a throw of 208' 6".
"I thought we went out and competed well," Vance said. "We had some really good marks and some folks break through who had been struggling a little bit. It's really good to see some of them break through, and we put some people in different positions and they did well and I'm really happy with what we did.
"We couldn't have asked for a better day. It was warm and the wind wasn't blowing and the conditions definitely played favorably for us. They have a great facility and we had some great teams to compete against, and our kids went out there showed what they can do. To go into a place as good as New Mexico and get our name in the record books is something we can definitely be happy about and take some pride in."
Facility records set on Saturday:
400M Natassha McDonald South Plains College 53.46
5000M Felix Kosgei South Plains College 15:24.00
400M Hurdles Okeen Williams South Plains College 50.90
High Jump Kwaume McGee South Plains College 6'10 ¾"
Long Jump Derrick Monroe South Plains College 25'½"
Javelin Adrian Williams South Plains College 208'6"