The Barton Community College track and field team opened the 2012 indoor season at the Holiday Inn Invitational this past weekend at the University of Nebraska. The men met seven national qualifying standard performances for the national indoor meet and won two events over the weekend while the women qualified six and won one event. On the men’s side Akeem Haynes and Aliaksandr Linnik captured first place while Kandace Thomas captured Barton’s lone first place for the women. Barton will travel to Lubbock, Texas, this week-end to participate in the Texas Tech Invitational.
Highlights – Men
The Cougars captured two first place finishes on the track while finishing in the top four in two other events. Barton took two of the top three qualifying times in the 60 meter dash, but it was Akeem Haynes who took first place in the finals with a time of 6.87, just slightly slower than his 6.83 time, both marks being national qualifying. Travis Thornhill, who ran the third fastest qualifying time at 6.89, also met qualification standards but pulled out of the finals to prevent an injury. Aliaksandr Linnik easily won the 200 meter by .2 seconds with a 21.23 national qualifying winning time. Tayron Reyes finished second in the 800 meter in 1:52.04, which also meets national qualifying standards.
Barton also had numerous other strong performances on the track as Ren Edwards, who finished seventh in the 600 meter, met national qualifying standards by posting a personal best time of 1:21.72. The 4X400 meter relay team of Haynes, Linnik, Reyes, and Earl Lucas captured third place in a 3:17.21 qualifying time behind the teams of the University of Minnesota and Nebraska respectively.
In the field events Barton had three Cougars place in the top ten. Jharyl Bowry finished fifth in the long jump and qualified for nationals with a leap of 7.11m, Tony Green finished sixth in the triple jump at 14.20m, and Taariq Ali jumped 6.68m in the long jump unseeded division.
In the throwing events the Cougars had two top ten finishes in the shot put. Wes Tuck finished fourth with a throw of 15.22m, just .13m out of third place but good for national standards, and Tyler Rathke finished ninth at 13.56m. Rathke also had a good performance in the weight throw as he finished twelfth with a toss of 13.71m.
Highlights - Women
Kandace Thomas was the lone women’s competitor to capture first place as she won the 60 meter with a personal best and national qualifying time of 7.46, .12 faster than her nearest competitor. The Ellinwood duo of Paulina Montoya and Michelle Klepper also had strong performances in their first collegiate meet. Montoya finished fourth in the 5000m with a personal best time of 20:04.71 while Klepper finished tenth in the 800m at 2:35.15. Yehaterina Miroshnikova qualifying time of 11:02.51 was good for a tenth place finish in the 3000m. Also posting a national qualifying time was the 4X400 relay team of Thomas, Curtisha Dupree, Miroshnikova, and Agata Klimovich finishing fifth with a time of 4:00.06.
Dana Gates was the lone top finisher in the field events as she finished fourth in the long jump with a leap of 5.29m.
The Lady Cougars had three top tens in the throwing events which each meeting national qualifying standards. Janee Mickens finished second in the shot put with a throw of 13.53m. Marcela Solano’s 15.55m was good for fourth in the weight throw as Mickens came in at seventh with a throw of 15.07m.
Released: January 15, 2012
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