Another meet and a growing list of qualifiers. That is the strategy for the Barton Community College men’s indoor track team and it worked perfectly this past weekend in Lincoln, Neb.
Barton added an additional 10 times to those that had already posted qualifying efforts for the NJCAA National Indoor Meet in March during the Holiday Inn Invitational in the Devaney Center on the campus of the University of Nebraska.
The meet climaxed with Barton winning the 4x400m in a time of 3:16.21 to earn a spot in the national meet. The quartet of Deron Gordon, Quick Stokes, Deandre Henderson, and Kennedy Mayweather bested the competition for the Cougars’ only gold medal on the day.
The meet featured several Big XII teams as well as some of the top NJCAA team from the region.
“We are really starting to show our strengths,” said Barton Coach David Schenek. “As we move forward, I think it’s important we improve our weaknesses and continue to work towards the goals of team championships.”
The Cougars had five sprinters post marks that earned them a spot at the NJCAA meet – four of them new. Alex Richmond had already qualified in the 60m where he posted a time of 7.05 this weekend. Henderson and Richmond both earned Top 5 efforts in the 200m with qualifying times. Henderson was third in 21.79 while Richmond was fifth in 21.99. Anthony Adderly ran a 22.31 to qualify as well.
Mayweather ran a 49.95 to earn a spot in the 400m while Tony Perez and Anthony Forrest both posted qualifying marks in the 800m in 1:57.88 and 1:57.92.
In addition to his 4x400m gold, Gordon finished fourth in the 60m hurdles in 8.14 and added a third qualifying mark in the 600m with a time of 1:22.46.
Brady Holler rounded out the individual qualifying marks on the track with a 2:40.46 in the 1000m. The distance medlay team of Perez, Adderly, Forrest and Devyn Brotherton finished seventh in 10:34.01 to qualify as well.
In the field, Donald Daley posted a pair of Top 10 efforts with a 10th place finish in the weight throw (50-0) and a nine place effort in the shot put (48-11). Alireza Rafiei was 10th in the shot as well (48-5.5).
The Cougars will take this weekend off then travel to Lubbock, Texas for the Masked Rider Open Jan. 30-31.