Several great athletes have made their way through the Barton women’s program. Many of them Olympians in fact.
Ayesha Champagnie is looking to be the latest in that long line. The freshman from Jamaica starred at the NJCAA national meet over the weekend in North Carolina. She shattered records in the pentathlon then competed in three more events – medaling in two.
That paced Barton to a sixth place national finish. The Cougars finished with 60 points. Iowa Central won the meet with 115 followed closely by New Mexico JC with 107. Monroe College (NY) was third with 92, followed by Central Arizona at 88.5, South Plains at 60 then Barton.
Champagnie was the star of the meet – especially Friday. She dominated the five pentathlon events. The morning started with a first place finish in the 60m hurdles in 8.58 for an even 1000 points. She followed later in the morning with 855 points in the high jump, taking second at 5-7.
The afternoon started with 791 points with a first place finish in the shot put in dominating fashion. Champagnie won by eight feet with her throw of 45-9.75. The long jump followed where Champagnie won for the third time in four events with a jump of 18-6.5 for 744 points. She closed out the event with 613 points in her weakest event – the 800m. She ran 2:36.57 for third place.
That put her over the 4000-point mark. She finished with 4003 points to break her own school record (3787), the NJCAA National Championships record (3840) and the highest score ever recorded at the JDL Fast Track complex (3926).
The heptathlon ran into late afternoon Friday, but her day wasn’t done.
She came back less than an hour after completing the pentathlon and qualified for the finals of the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.58.
Then came the real fun – both her long jump event and shot put event were scheduled to start the same time Friday night.
She finished fourth in the long jump with a jump of 18-8 – 1.5 inches better than her pentathlon distance. Tasha Frazier took second at 19-0.5, just missing a personal best in the process.
Champagnie finished the day just missing another medal with a ninth place finish in the shot put – one out of placing. She threw 43-11.75 in her eighth and final event of the day.
Saturday Champagnie and Frazier started the Cougars off strong again. The two hooked up in the finals of the 60m hurdles with Champagnie finishing second at 8.58. It was her third 8.58 in the event during the championships. Frazier was third in 8.64. Iowa Central’s Danielle Riggins won at 8.50.
Barton added points in the 200m and 800m
Tamara Style ran sixth in the 200m and Sabrina Mason seventh. Style ran a 24.85 and Mason 25.03. Asha Douglas picked up one point in the 800m with a time of 2:20.93.
Barton picked up seven more points in the relays. The Cougars tandem of Emilykate Hopkins-Boyd, Brianna Payne, Douglas, and Olivian Jackson ran seventh in the 4x800m in 10:03.25.
Barton closed out the meet with a fourth place effort in the 4x400m relay. Rian Robinson, O’Neisha Glover, Style and Widline Lageroy ran a 3:50.29.