MANHATTAN — The Barton Community College men’s and women’s track and field teams both finished in second place at the 2012 Region VI Indoor Championship this past weekend at Ahern Field House in Manhattan.
The Cougars came up three points short of Johnson County as the champion was determined in the final event of the day, the 4x400 relay. Barton trailed by one and needed the win but Johnson County beat out the Cougars by .53 seconds to capture the championship. 
The Lady Cougars held an eight-point lead on Coffeyville headed to the 4x400 relay, but due to injury, Barton’s second-seeded relay team was unable to compete. 
Coffeyville finished in second place in the event, which closed the gap to earn a tie with Barton for second place overall.
The Cougars won six events on the day highlighted by sophomore Jharyl Bowry, who captured first place in the high jump, second place in the long jump and third place in the triple jump on the way to earning the Outstanding Male Field Event Athlete award. Bowry won the high jump at a national qualifying two meters even though he hadn’t competed in high jump this year.
In the long jump Bowry captured second place at 7.33 then rounded out his field events by adding a third-place finish in the triple jump with a jump of 14.29.
Tony Green closed out the triple jump with a first-place finish for the Cougars with a 14.89 winning jump. Green also captured third place in the 60-meter hurdles.
On the track, Barton scored wins in 60 dash, 400 dash, 800 run and 60 hurdles.
Akeem Haynes captured the 60 dash with a time of 6.83 while also finishing seventh in the 200 dash. Aliaksandr Linnik, who almost made up the deficit from the anchor position of the 4x400 relay, won the 400 with a time of 49.31, as well as finishing in sixth place in the 60 dash at 6.95. 
Tayron Reyes and Demetrius Lindo rounded out the first-place finishes on the track by winning the 800 at 1:57.76 and 60 hurdles with a time of 8:18. Lindo also finished in fifth place in the 60 dash at 6.89 and sixth place in the 200 with a time of 22:25.
Usually a strong area for the Cougars, Barton was only able to gain six points in the throws via Wes Tuck’s fifth-place 14.45-meter throw and Tyler Rathke’s 14.15 seventh-place throw in the shot put.
The Lady Cougars won five events with Janee Mickens and Yakaterina Miroshnikova each winning two of the four. Mickens won the shot put and weight throw with heaves of 13.90 and 16.27, respectively. 
Miroshnikova won the mile run at 5:26.50 and the 1,000 run with a time of 3:00.86, both nearly five seconds in front of her nearest competitor. Agata Klimovich captured Barton’s other first-place finish with a 57.47 time in the 400.
Kandace Thomas finished second in the 60 dash at 7.64 and competing in the long jump for the first time this season finished third with a jump of 5.27.  Dana Gates also did well in the field as she finished in second place in the long jump at 5.30 and her 10.21 jump was good for fifth place in the triple jump.
Ellinwood native Paulina Montoya was one of five Lady Cougars to score in two events as she placed fourth in the 5,000 run with a time of 19:35.11 and sixth in the 3,000 run clocking in at 11:41.04.
Barton will spend the next two weeks training and healing injuries in preparation for the 2012 NJCAA Indoor Championship on March 2-3, in Lubbock, Texas.