Cloud County Men's Track Ends Up Sixth at 2023 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships

Entering final day action of the 2023 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in 11th place, the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team would score 31 of their 40 total team points on day two to make a five-spot jump up the team standings to finish in sixth place inside the Washburn University Indoor Athletic Facility in Topeka, Kansas on Saturday, March 4th.

The 31 points scored would come from six total events with the T-Birds claiming one individual national champion in Mohamed Ahmed in the weight throw over the course of the two-day meet. A tie for the team title would see South Plains College and New Mexico Junior College both finish the event with 107 total points after 20 scored events with Iowa Western Community College a distant third with 61 total points. Just ahead of the T-Birds in the team standings in fifth would be Barton Community College with 48.5 points as Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference schools would make up the fifth, sixth, and seventh-place teams in the meet after seeing Colby Community College finish just one point back of CCCC.

Ahmed's national title would come following a sixth and final throw of 20.14 meters (66 ft. – 1 in.) to beat the competition by over five feet in his only event of the meet. Cloud County would also get 11 points from the heptathlon after seeing Anson Moses take third with 5,002 points and just 173 points back of national champion Aries Scott of Iowa Central while Ricard Smith (4,650 points) and Hemon Joseph (4,632 points) would finish in sixth and seventh, respectively.

Cloud County would also see Emmanuel Wanga (1:19.75) and Hassan Abidi (1:19.75) take seventh and eighth in the 600-meter dash for three additional points before getting a seventh-place finish in the triple jump from Awakhiwe Ndlovu with a mark of 14.64 meters (48 ft. – 0.5 in.). The final event of the meet (4x400 meter relay) would see Leroy Kamau, Jonathan Dende, Alphonse Igish, and Wanga combine for a time of 3:15.26 to take eighth for one final point.

What's Next?
CCCC will take the upcoming week off from competition before jumping into the 2023 outdoor season which is set to begin on Saturday, March 18th at the 2023 Emporia State University Spring Invitational. Cloud County is scheduled to compete in eight regular-season outdoor meets prior to the 2023 NJCAA Region VI Championships which will be held May 4-6 in Coffeyville, Kansas.