PITTSBURG — Every point can count. You hear coaches say that. That was the case for the Barton women at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend at the Plaster Center in Pittsburg.
Barton just missed bringing home a plaque by a mere three points. The Cougars finished fourth with 70. South Plains was third with 73. Those two schools were well behind the top two finishers.
New Mexico Junior College won the meet with 121 while Iowa Central was second at 116.
The Cougars won two gold medals during the day, including a meet record in the 4x400m relay.
Rian Robinson, Chanelle Ricketts, Sabrina Mason and Latoya Stewart won the final event of the weekend with a meet record time of 3:38.93 for the gold medal.
Barton’s other gold medal came from sophomore standout Ayesha Champagnie. She rolled to another win in the heptathlon with a score of 3943. The Jamaican was in the top three of all five events, winning the 60m hurdles.
Teammate Ed’Quisha Alvin was fourth in the heptathlon with a score of 3441.
Champagnie also finished eighth in the individual shot put with a toss of 45-2.25.
Mason placed in two individual events. The sophomore was third in the 200m in 24.9 and eighth in the 60m in 7.61. In the 60m she was one spot behind Keosha Saunders in seventh at 7.53.
Robinson took second on the day as well, running a 54.47 in the 400m. Ricketts was seventh with a 54.98.
Stewart took third in the 600m in 1:31.55.
Mirena Goncalves placed in two long distance events for the Cougars. The freshman took fifth in the 5000m in 18:03.03 and eighth in the 3000m in 10:26.36.

NJCAA Championships
TEAM SCORES
Top 10 and Jayhawk Schools
1 New Mexico JC 121
2 Iowa Central 116
3 South Plains 73
4 Barton 70
5 Central Arizona 39
6 Iowa Western 38
7 Vincennes34
8 Mesa 32
9 Monroe College 28
10 Western Texas 25
11 Allen 23
13 Cowley 19
16 Hutch 16
17 Cloud 15
18 Butler 14
19 Coffeyville 13
20 Colby 13
21 Highland 8
23 Dodge City 7
26 Johnson 2