Battling through three days of blistering temperatures and sustained winds, the Barton Community College women's track and field team closed its outdoor season Saturday with a third-place finish at the 2026 NJCAA Division I Outdoor National Championships held at New Mexico Junior College's Ross Black Field of Champions in Hobbs, New Mexico.
The Cougars compiled 78 team points in securing their fourth consecutive top-three national finish while extending the program's streak to nine straight years inside the national top-five. Host New Mexico Junior College narrowly edged Iowa Western for the national title with 107.5 points, finishing just a half-point ahead of the Reivers' 107, while Barton finished comfortably ahead of fourth-place South Plains College's 63.83 points.
Rising from 12th after Thursday's opening day into seventh following Friday's competition, Barton earned hardware from its closing-day push behind two national championships, a national runner-up finish, and scoring efforts spread across sprints, hurdles, relays, jumps, throws, and multi-events.
Highlights:
Team Finish Streaks: 4th straight top-three national finish, 9th straight top-five finish
National Champions: Alexia Walker (Heptathlon), Asharria Ulett (100m hurdles), (4x100m Relay)
National Runner-Ups: Celine Riddle (Long Jump), Shamoyea Morris (Discus)
Scoring Performances (Top-8): 13
Program Record Book Movement: Walker (8th Heptathlon), Riddle (5th Triple Jump), Austin (5th 200m), Ulett (Program Record 100m hurdles)
National Record: Ulett's 12.89 established a Barton program record and NJCAA all-conditions record in the 100m hurdles
Personal/Season Bests (12): Walker (Heptathlon), Destany Johnson (Heptathlon), Ulett (100m hurdles), Shamoye Morris (Hammer Throw), Riddle (Long Jump, Triple Jump), Zadie Mackey (Shot Put), Sethunya Majama (100m), Kayda Austin (200m), Takeila Williams (200m), 4x100m Relay, 4x400m Relay
Alexia Walker got Barton off to a ten-point start, erasing memories of last year's heptathlon runner-up finish by capturing this year's title in dominating fashion with a 409-point victory. The sophomore amassed a personal-best 5200 points to move from 10th to 8th on Barton's all-time performance list.
Walker delivered one of the meet's most complete all-around performances, recording personal or season bests in six of the seven disciplines, punctuating her title effort with a six-second victory in the 800m behind a personal-best 2:20.42. Destany Johnson, competing in just her second collegiate heptathlon, placed 13th overall with a personal-best 3994 points, highlighted by personal bests in the 100m hurdles, long jump, and javelin while missing her 800m best by .01 seconds.
Asharria Ulett closed out her historic career with another jaw-dropping moment during Barton's championship weekend in the 100m hurdles, storming to the national title in a wind-aided 12.89 to establish a new program record while also producing the fastest all-conditions time in NJCAA history. Ulett had already lowered her personal best to 13.25 during preliminaries, a mark that briefly moved into Barton's No. 2 all-time spot before eclipsing it a day later in the finals.
Barton's sprint relay unit began Saturday's track competition with another national title performance as the quartet of Sethunya Majama, Thomphang Basele, Camoy Binger, and Kayda Austin raced to gold in the 4x100m relay in 45.00 after posting a season-best 44.95 during preliminaries while missing the program's all-time top-10 list by just .08 seconds.
The Cougars' field-event depth also played a major role throughout the weekend. Celine Riddle opened Barton's scoring Thursday with a national runner-up finish in the long jump, soaring to a personal-best 6.29m while narrowly missing the program's top-10 list by just 1.5 inches. Riddle later closed out her Barton career with another podium finish Saturday in the triple jump, placing third with a personal-best 12.92m to climb from ninth to fifth in Barton history.
Saturday's discus competition produced one of Barton's largest point swings of the meet as the Cougars placed three athletes inside the top-eight. Shamoyea Morris led the charge with a national runner-up finish at 49.82m while Shamoye Morris added a fourth-place finish at 45.46m with Zadie Mackey placing eighth at 43.51m. The Morris duo already entered the meet ranked sixth and ninth respectively on Barton's all-time list in the event.
Additional scoring performances came from Jahmeka Brown placing sixth in the high jump at 1.64m and Mackey earning eighth in the shot put with a personal-best 13.24m.
On the track, Basele produced a breakout national performance in placing third in the 400m with a personal-best 53.84, while Austin added a fifth-place finish in the 200m after clocking a wind-aided personal-best 23.15 in preliminaries to move into fifth on Barton's all-time list.
The Cougars capped the meet with another podium relay finish in the 4x400m relay as Natasha Fox, Walker, Majama, and Basele combined for a season-best 3:40.70 to place third nationally after also recording a season-best effort during preliminaries.
Barton narrowly missed adding additional scoring performances in several sprint events as Majama placed 10th in the 100m with a personal-best 11.62 while Binger missed the 100m hurdles finals by just .09 seconds after clipping the second-to-last hurdle after leading much of her preliminary heat.
Barton's NJCAA Division I Outdoor Championship Results (PR/PB = Personal record/best)
100m: 10th Sethunya Majama (PB 11.62), 15th Kayda Austin (11.82)
200m: 5th Kayda Austin (23.21 *PB 23.15 in Prelims - Program 5th Best - All Conditions), 19th Takeila Williams (PB 24.02)
400m: 3rd Thomphang Basele (PB 53.84), 21st Narissa McPherson (56.99)
100m Hurdles: NATIONAL CHAMPION Asharria Ulett (PB 12.89 *Program Record - All Conditions **National Record - All Conditions **Ran previous PB 13.25 in Prelims for then-Program 2nd Best - All Conditions), 12th Camoy Binger (14.00 **Already has Program 10th Best)
400m Hurdles: 13th Natasha Fox (1:03.73)
4x100m Relay: NATIONAL CHAMPION 45.00 *SB 44.95 in Prelims - missed Program Top-10 by .08 seconds (Sethunya Majama, Thomphang Basele, Camoy Binger, Kayda Austin *Prelims: Sethunya Majama, Thomphang Basele, Takeila Williams, Kayda Austin)
4x400m Relay: 3rd SB 3:40.70 (Natasha Fox, Alexia Walker, Sethunya Majama, Thomphang Basele; *Ran then-SB 3:45.75 in Prelims - Natasha Fox, Alexia Walker, Narissa McPherson, Takeila Williams)
High Jump: 6th Jahmeka Brown (1.64m, 5-04.50)
Long Jump: National Runner-Up Celine Riddle (PB 6.29m, 20-7.75 *Missed Program Top-10 by 1.50")
Triple Jump: 3rd Celine Riddle (PB 12.92m, 42-4.75 *Moves up from 9th to 5th Program Best)
Shot Put: 8th Zadie Mackey (PB 13.24m, 43-5.25), DNP Shamoye Morris (Foul)
Discus: National Runner-Up Shamoyea Morris (49.82m, 163-5.00 *Already has Program 6th Best), 4th Shamoye Morris (45.46m, 149-2.00 *Already has Program 9th Best), 8th Zadie Mackey (43.51m, 142-9.00)
Hammer Throw: T-11th Zadie Mackey (48.10m, 157-10.00) and Shamoye Morris (PB 48.10m, 157-10.00), 20th Shamoyea Morris (42.69m, 140-1.00)
Heptathlon: NATIONAL CHAMPION Alexia Walker *Runner-up last year (PB 5200pts *Moves up from 10th to 8th Program Best), 13th Destany Johnson (PB 3994pts *2nd Time in event)
Event Results:
100m Hurdles: 3rd Walker (PB 14.20), 10th Johnson (PB 15.55)
High Jump: 1st Walker (PB 1.66m, 5-5.25), 10th Johnson (1.42m, 4-8.00)
Shot Put: 4th Walker (PB 10.51m, 34-5.75), 15th Johnson (7.89m, 25-10.75)
200m: 1st Walker (PB 24.36), 6th Johnson (26.06)
Long Jump: 1st Walker (SB 5.49m, 18-0.25), 11th Johnson (PB 5.02m, 16-5.75)
Javelin: 9th Walker (26.98m, 88-6.00), 13th Johnson (PB 20.67, 67-10.00)
800m: 1st Walker (PB 2:20.42), 5th Johnson (2:34.30 *Missed PB by .01 seconds)
Team Standings (Top Ten)
1 New Mexico JC 107.50pts
2 Iowa Western CC 107pts
3 Barton CC 78pts
4 South Plains 63.83pts
5 Odessa 47pts
6 Cloud County CC 46pts
7 Allen CC 44pts
8 Hutchinson CC 40pts
9 Iowa Central CC 39pts
9 Hinds CC 39pts