Cloud County Men's Track Posts Two New National Qualifying Marks at Washburn Rust Buster Classic
14 top-10 finishes and an event win from Mohamed Ahmed in the weight throw would highlight a successful Saturday for the Cloud County Community College men's track and field team at the 2023 Washburn University Rust Buster Classic held inside the Indoor Athletic Facility in Topeka, Kansas on January 21st.
The large meet featuring teams from all states as far away as Texas would see no team scores kept while having NCAA Division I, II, III, the NAIA, and NJCAA all represented at the meet.
Ahmed's win in the weight throw would come with a meet record throw of 19.82 meters (65 ft. – 0.5 in.) and serve as one of five top-10 finishes in field events for CCCC as the T-Birds would also get a top-three finish from Oageng Mdlela in the triple jump with a national-qualifying jump of 14.51 meters (47 ft. – 7.25 in.) to take third. A trio of seventh-place finishes would come from Anson Moses in the long jump (6.83 meters, 22 ft. – 5 in.), Vincent Ugwoke in the shot put (15.01 meters, 49 ft. – 3 in.), and Arne Roehl in the high jump (1.90 meters, 6 ft. – 2.75 in.). CCCC would also get an eighth-place finish in the pole vault courtesy of Ben Okraska after clearing 4.60 meters (15 ft. – 1 in.).
Matching the five top-10 finishes in field events would be T-Bird runners on the track with the 4x400 meter relay team of Emanuel Wanga, Hassan Abidi, Daniel Siaffa, and Jonathan Dende leading the way and taking third out of 28 relay teams with a national qualifying time of 3:15.74 for the second national qualifying mark of the day for Cloud County. CCCC's second 4x400 meter relay team of Raziel Patton, Quwayne Reid, Alphonse Igish, and Mason Schurr would also earn a top-10 finish by taking ninth with a time of 3:21.99 in the event. Patton would also earn an eighth-place finish in the 600-yard run with a time of 1:13.09 to edge out teammate Dende who would take ninth with a time of 1:13.77 to give Cloud County two top-10 finishers in the event.
Other high marks for the T-Birds on Saturday would include a fourth and sixth-place finish from Abidi (49.23 seconds) and Siaffa (49.67 seconds) in the 400 meters while Wanga would take eighth with a time of 50.07 seconds. The lone remaining top-10 finish by CCCC would come in the 60-meter hurdles with Anson Moses running a qualifying time of 8.52 seconds in the preliminary round before not being able to finish the finals race to take eighth.
What's Next?
A second-straight weekend staying in the Sunflower State will come next weekend for Cloud County beginning on Friday, January 27th when the T-Birds head to Wichita, Kansas to take part in the Wichita State University Herm Wilson Invitational. Action will occur over the course of two days, concluding on Saturday, January 28th to close out the opening month of the season for CCCC.