By TODD MOORE
Barton Sports Info
The 2nd ranked Barton Community College women's track and field team were true to form this past weekend in Coffeyville by capturing the program's 32nd Region VI Outdoor Championships.
The Cougars performed at a high level up and down the lineup with eighteen Top-3 placings among their twenty-nine scoring performances, posted twenty personal or seasonal bests, added two national qualifying performances bringing their entry total to thirty-four, and impacted the storied program top ten record book with five performances as another finished 11th on the all-time list.
Accumulating enough points for the title, Barton sat out its 4x400m relay team for the final race of the Championships, finishing with 183.50 points to better Cloud County Community College's 182 points and third place Fort Scott Community College's 96 points.
Cloud County won the KJCCC West title with 256 points as the Cougars placed second at 222 points with Hutchinson Community College in a distant third with 97.50 points.
Barton Track and Field Head Coach David Schenek and Assistant Coaches Victoria Gonzales and Emmanuel DixonBarton also was awarded a pair of coveted coaching awards following the meet, David Schenek garnering the Head Coach of the Year award with Emmanuel Dixon named the Assistant Coach of the Year.
Next up is the season finale May 18-20 as the Cougars head to Hobbs, New Mexico, for the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Championships.
Of the four event titles, two were on the track with a pair occurring in the field events.
On the track, runners from all teams took advantage of wind aided times to record personal bests, program bests, and even national impacting times.
Oarabile Tshosa blazed the 100m straight-away for a Region title 11.26 clocking in posting the program's 5th fastest all-conditions time with Naiya Morgan placing 2nd in the 200m with a program 8th fastest time of 23.36. The duo also posted two additional personal bests, Tshosa placing 3rd in the 200m in an 11th program fastest time of 23.44 with Morgan clocking a personal best 11.40 100m time in placing 3rd. Antiana Walsh also recorded personal bests in the events, placing 8th in the 100m at 11.59 and a 4th place 23.75 time as the Cougars went 2-3-4 in the 200m.
The trio were joined by 100m hurdle runner-up Danae Nembhard for the 4x100m relay, blazing the oval handoffs in a facility record 45.10 seconds to just miss the program top ten by .09 seconds.
Kelsie Murrell-Ross and Treneese Hamilton each won titles in the field events. Murrell-Ross, the nation's top shot put leader and ranking 3rd on the program list, winning the event with a 15.38m throw as Hamilton struck for a personal best 14.89m for runner-up in marking the program's 5th furthest throw.
Hamilton also made a program impact in the javelin, crowned Region champion on a 42.79m stab in the grass to move into 10th all-time in program history.
The Cougars added two new entries for the national meet, Ahniesha Presulme's triple jump runner-up placing of a personal best 11.81m and Brittania Ingram recording a personal best 5.82m in the long jump to finish 3rd behind Jazmine Williamson's runner-up 5.90m splash and ahead of Kay-Lagay Clark's 5.72m mark giving the Cougars three long jump national entries.
In addition to the 200m 2-3-4 Barton finish, the Cougars began the meet with the same placement in the Heptathlon. Kayleigh Prentiss finished runner-up with 4155 points, national indoor champion Ana Couto slipped from 1st to 3rd following not finishing the 800m to accumulate 4022 points, and Presulme posting four personal bests including on the final 800m in moving up to 4th overall at 3738 points.