The Barton Community College men’s and women’s track and field teams finished second and third place respectively in the 2012 NJCAA Indoor Championship this past weekend at in Charleston, Ill.
The Barton men, who have won 10 indoor championships and finished in second place three times in the past 15 years, captured two first-place finishes and scored in 12 events.
The Lady Cougars, who have won 17 national championships and 10 second-place finishes in their history, captured two gold medals and scored in eight events.
Capturing gold medals for the Cougar men were Tayron Reyes in the 800-meter run and Jharyl Bowry in the long jump.
Reyes finished nearly 2.5 seconds faster than his nearest competitor finishing at 1:51.80. He also captured a second-place finish in the 1000 run, crossing the finish line at 2:31.29.
Bowry, the reigning Region VI Indoor Outstanding Male Field Athlete, saved his best jump until last as he moved from second to first place in winning the long jump.
Trailing Coffeyville’s Orlando Ezell going into the final jump, Bowry exploded nine inches past his previous best jump to win with a leap of 25-4.75, marking his best performance of the indoor season. Carrying the spring from the long jump, Bowry also set another personal record as he went on to finish in fourth place in triple jump with a 48-0.5 leap.
The Cougar men set seven personal records at the championship. In addition to Bowry, Demetrius Lindo set a personal record in the prelims of the 60 dash at 6.72 and went on to take second place with a time of 6.82, just .02 seconds out of first place.
Highlighting the Lady Cougars individual performances were the first-place finishes of Agata Klimovich in the 400 dash and Yehaterina Miroshnikova in the mile run.
Klimovich captured gold with a time of 56.01 while Miroshnikova held off Fiona McKenna of Iowa Central to win, crossing the finish line at 5:11.29.  Miroshnikova added to her day by capturing fourth place in the 1,000 run as well with a time of 3:03.75.
Kandace Thomas joined Miroshnikova as placing in two events as she earned a pair of second-place finishes in the 60 and 200 dashes. In the 60 dash, she narrowly missed gold as her 7.38 time was one-hundredth of a second out of first place. Her 24.31 time in the 200 dash was a mere one-tenth of a second from gold. 
Dana Gates had perhaps one of the biggest surprises of the day as she leaped for a personal best 17-4.75 in the long jump to earn second place.
The field event duo of Janee Mickens and Marcela Solano also posted personal bests over the weekend. Mickens’ personal best 14.64 was good for third place in the shot put while Solano’s 52-0.25 throw earned her fourth place in the weight throw.