HUTCHINSON, Kansas — The South Plains College men's track and field team captured a pair of gold medals on day one of the NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships at Gowans Stadium on the campus of Hutchinson Community College.
The Texans notched 10 points in the men's 4x800 relay, as Kimar Farquharson, Mehdi Yanouri, Christian Francisco, and Aron Tanui clocked a 7:39.00 to earn national championship honors. In the men's pole vault, Thomas Nieto secured the second gold medal for South Plains with a winning bar of 17' 4.50".
In the men's decathlon, Demarcus Sneed sits in eighth after day one, totaling 3289 points, while teammate Nelvin Appiah-Konadu is ninth with 3253 points. South Plains' Paxton Hair picked up a point for the Texans in the men's hammer throw, earning an eighth-place national finish with a mark of 153' 9".
"We had a good year with Thomas last year being the national runner-up in indoor and outdoor, but we wanted more," South Plains College head coach Erik Vance said. "We thought we had a lot more as far as what bars we could clear, and ever since the end of indoor, he's been locked in. He kept clearing high bars all season and was able to take home another national championship."
On the women's side, South Plains' Joniar Thomas is currently first in the women's heptathlon with 3246 points after four events. The Lady Texan tallied six points in the pole vault, as Sarahi Baeza placed fifth with a clearance of 10' 4.25", while TaraLee McKarns placed sixth nationally with a mark of 9' 10.50". The Lady Texans notched their first medal of the meet in the women's 4x800 relay, as Cemore Donald, Esmeralda Espinoza, Camille Lewis, and Jeniel Jones turned in a third-place national finish in a time of 9:35.11.
"Across the board, I thought our multis competed really well," Vance said. "We have several athletes who are in a position to score and that's all that we can ask. Our women's 4x800 ran really well, and they did a great job and had a podium finish and picked up six important points."
Full results for the meet can be found here: https://live.athletic.net/meets/16323/events/583099/entries