PITTSBURG, Kan. - Greyhound track & field took on the 2024 NJCAA Region VI/KJCCC Indoor championships this past week at the Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kan., with multiple male & female Fort Scott student-athletes claiming titles, breaking school & personal records, as well as a men's first-place conference finish and Coach of the Year awarded to head coach Philip Redrick.
The Fort Scott men finished first in the KJCCC East Region with 176-points, with the women taking second at 181-points. On the NJCAA Region VI end of things the Hounds placed third for men & women totaling 114-points and 70-points, respectively.
Throughout the meet the Greyhounds helped set the competitive tone, reaching great heights across the board. The men's 4x400 crew snagged a new school and regional record, as well as a first-place spot on the podium backed by the efforts of Durrell Collins, Hickory Richards, Mario Paul and Michael Nworu coming through at 3:11.76. That time was good for the fifth-best mark nationally in the NJCAA as of Monday morning, while also being the 11th-best time in the history of the NJCAA as of the date of competition.
For the women, Ivana Odonkor's 55.35 400m final mark gave her the gold as well as the No. 4 time in the NJCAA heading into nationals.
Other first-place outings by the men included Fabian Campbell's 1:53.65 800m final, Nickory Richards's 47.43 400m final, Josiah Taylor's 21.03 200m final and Charmar Smith's 1:19.35 600m final. Smith set a new school and personal record in the 600m too. Joining them on the podium was a handful of teammates with second- and third-place performances by Barry Richards (60m hurdle final, 2nd, 8.05), Paul (60m hurdle final, 3rd, 8.11; 400m final, 3rd, 47.68), Collins (200m final, 3rd, 21.39) and Dekell Minor (60m finals, 3rd, 6.77).
The ladies of Fort Scott posted a 3:51.47 4x400 relay mark supported by the racing of Odonkor, Emmanuella Squire, Dayjoniqe Cato and Chaniqua Tonge. For those keeping track that is the seventh-best time nationally as of the conclusion of conference finals. Along with that podium finish the women also had Icey Green collect a pair of third-place spots in the triple (11.60m) and long (5.81m) jump events. Green and Jazz Dilworth also earned three points for Fort scott in the pentathlon taking seventh- and eighth-place, respectively.
At the conclusion of NJCAA Region VI/KJCCC Championships weekend the Greyhounds had a total of 32 national qualifiers. NJCAA national championships will take place March 1-2 in Gainesville, Florida.