PITTSBURG, Kan.—Day two of the 2017 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships at Pittsburg State's Robert W. Plaster Center saw the Texans and Lady Texans each finish the season as two of the top programs in the country.
The Texans would end up finishing second overall with a final team total of 104.5 points. Iowa Central placed first with 124 points, as Barton County, Butler and Hinds Community College rounded out the top five. The Lady Texans finished third in the country with 73 team points. New Mexico Junior College placed first with 121 points and Iowa Central placed second with 116 points.
Felicia Frimpong began the afternoon with a fifth place finish for the Lady Texans in the women's triple jump as the sophomore from Ghana soared 40' 11". Cha'Kaylin Gilbert earned eighth place honors for South Plains with her final mark of 39' 2.50".
The Lady Texans 4x800 relay team comprised of Latriceia Smith, Poro Gahekave, Seselia Dala and Hellen Maasotuo were crowned national champions after crossing the finish line at the 9:19.26 mark, nine seconds ahead of second place finisher Cowley County. The Texans would go on to take third overall in the men's 4x800 as Omero Rodriguez, Nicholas Rotich, Dekaryea Freeman and Felix Kosgei finished with a time of 7:47.31.
The Texans' trio of Robert Dunning, Mason Weh and William Watson swept the top three positions in the men's 60-meter hurdles. Dunning was crowned national champion with his dazzling time of 7.93. Weh took second with an 8.00 and Watson placed third with a time of 8.02.
South Plains' Okeen Williams earned the title of national champion as the sophomore from St. Elizabeth, Jamaica took first in the men's 600-meter run and set a new facility record with a time of 1:17.98. Montel Hood also finished inside the top five with a time of 1:19.25, good enough for fourth place.
Freshman Agnes Abrocquah placed fifth in the women's 600-meter run as the Ghana native crossed the finish line with a final time of 1:32.85. South Plains would then place two runners inside the top 10 in the women's mile run as Dala placed third with a time of 5:09.74 and Gahekave took seventh with a time of 5:14.34.
In the women's 400-meter dash freshman Natassha McDonald placed fourth as the Toronto, Canada product crossed the finish at 54.73. Maasotuo would go on to take fourth in the women's 800-meter run with a time of 2:15.86 Maasotuo would follow up with a third place finish in the women's 1000-meter run posting a final time of 2:58.81. Gahekave placed sixth with here time of 3:00.92 and Dala took ninth with a time of 3:10.57.
After claiming national champion honors on Friday in the men's long jump, freshman Laquan Nairn placed second in the triple jump as the Bahamas native launched 51' 4.25" Saahir Bethea would take eighth for the Texans with a final mark of 48' 0.50".
The Lady Texans capped off the afternoon with a second-place finish in the 4x400 relay. McDonald, Safia Bright, Mauricia Prieto and Agnes Abrocquah crossed the finish line at the 3:40.33 mark. The Texans 4x400 team of Jordan Atkinson, Rayan Holmes, Okeen Williams and Montel Hood would go on to place fourth overall with a time of 3:14.18.
The Texans placed three athletes inside the top 15 in the men's Heptathlon as Patrick Johnson placed seventh with 4612 points, while Zack Hancock placed 11th with 4490 points and Jonathan Witt placed 12th with 4273 points.
Day one highlights:
Nairn soared his way to a first place finish in the men's long jump with a final mark of 24' 11.75". South Plains' Derrick Monroe wasn't far behind as the sophomore from Yuma, Arizona placed third overall with a final mark of 24' 05.75". Bethea also earned a top 10 finish as the Elkins Park, Pennsylvania native placed sixth with a jump of 24' 01.50".
South Plains' distance medley relay team comprised of Felix Kosgei, Montel Hood, Omero Rodriguez and Nicholas Rotich placed second after crossing the finish line at the 10:10.37 mark. The Lady Texans distance medley relay team also placed inside the to five as Poro Gahekave, Natassha McDonald, Latriceia Smith and Seselia Dala placed third with a final time of 12:08.72.
In the women's 5000-meter run, freshman Leslie Romero placed fourth as the Houston native posted a final time of 18:10.97. The Texans placed three runners inside the top 15 in the men's 5000-meter run as Deric Martinez placed seventh with a final time of 15:13.44, while Jose Silva and Connor Hughes placed 12th and 13th overall with times of 15:27.47 and 15:33.56, respectively.
The Texans' Kwaume McGee and Robert Dunning launched their way into the top 10 in the men's high jump. McGree placed third with a mark of 7' 0.50" while Dunning took seventh with a final jump of 6.08' 0.75".
The Lady Texans placed three athletes inside the top 10 in the women's long jump as Cha'Kayli Gilbert earned fourth place honors with a final mark of 18' 10.75". Felicia Frimpong took eighth with a jump of 18' 6.50" and Melody Korie placed 10th with a final mark of 18' 1.50".
Full team results can be found here: https://trackmeet.io/meets/149/scores