The Barton Community College track and field teams wrapped up its 2011-12 season this week at the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Championship held in Levelland, Texas.  Barton captured three national championships and finished second in four other events in finishing fourth on the men’s side and sixth on the women’s side.  Highlighting Barton’s national championships was the men’s 4X100m relay team men with an upset victory, Marcela Solano winning the women’s hammer throw, and freshman Demetrius Lindo capturing the 110m Hurdles.  In addition to the three gold medals, the Cougars captured four second place finishes, two third places, and one fourth.  After finishing second at the NJCAA Indoor National Championships the Cougar men finished fourth overall in the outdoor.  The Lady Cougars finished sixth in the outdoor to follow up on their third place indoor finish.  Host school South Plains College continued its recent dominance in the outdoor championships as it won both the men and women titles for fourth consecutive year.  The Texans have won the title for the past six years while their female counterparts have a string of four straight.

Men
The 4X100m relay pulled off the upset over the top ranked South Plains College team by winning in a time of 39.80 to the Texans’ 39.94.  The team of Travis Thornhill, Demetrius Lindo, Akeem Haynes, and Aliaksandr Linnik entered the race as the second seed but put together a flawless run to capture the title of the host Texans.  Lindo, the favorite going into the 100m hurdles, added to his gold medal count by winning the 100m hurdles in a time of 13.89. 

Three Cougar men just missed out on gold as Barton put together a strong final day of competition.  Reigning indoor national long jump champion Jharyl Bowry came within a quarter of an inch of having the outdoor title as well to cap off his sophomore year with a personal best jump of 25’8”.  Sophomore Tayron Reyes, also a reigning indoor champion after winning the 800m indoor, overcame four competitors in the last two hundred meters to finish second with a time 1:49.56.   Haynes, a sophomore from Canada, finished strong down the stretch as well in capturing second place with a 10.30 clocking.

Sixth seeded Linnik wrapped up his freshman year with a 21.25 time in finishing third in the 200m.  Other top performers adding to Barton’s team points were freshman Kevin Nichols with his 24’7.25” leap in the long jump to finish seventh and freshman Tony Green’s eighth place finish in the triple jump with a 47’8” distance.

Besides the jumps, the field events were not as kind to the Cougars as Barton failed to score any points in the throwing events.  Tyler Rathke gave the Cougars its best shot in the discus throw but his 156’3” distance garnered only a tenth place finish as he wrapped up his Barton career.

Women
The Lady Cougars were led in the field events by Marcela Solano’s national championship.  The sophomore from Chile who also won last year’s hammer throw, defended her title with a throw of 177’10”.  Fellow sophomore Janee Mickens failed to place a distance in the hammer but did score in her other two events.  Having thrown the fourth furthest in the nation in shot put coming into the meet, Mickens exceeded her previous best to capture third place with a throw of 48’6” while her 146’10” distance was good for eighth place in the discus. 

On the track Barton was led by the second place finish of Kandace Thomas.  The freshman entered the race with the seventh best time at 11.62 but ran a personal best 11.37 to capture second place.   The middle distance freshman duo Agata Klimovich and Yehaterina Miroshnikova, who both boast the indoor 400m and 1-mile national championships respectively, both recorded strong performances above their pre-championship seeding.  Seeded eleventh, Klimovich placed seventh in the 400m with a time of 56.40.  Miroshnikova moved up nine spots from her seeding by running a personal best 4:50.22 to finish fourth in the 1500m. 

Also running a personal best and making the biggest leap in pre-championship seeding for the Lady Cougars was Paulina Montoya.  The freshman from Ellinwood, Kansas, ran a personal best in the 10,000m to improve from the seventeenth slot to finish seventh in the nation with a time of 41:55.57.  

Complete results can be found online at Championships Results

Released:  May 18, 2012

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