FORT SCOTT OPENS UP 2024 INDOOR CAMPAIGN IN HOUSTON

HOUSTON, Texas. - The Fort Scott Greyhounds Track and Field teams started the 2024 indoor season on Friday, Jan. 12th at the Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational hosted by the University of Houston at Yeoman Fieldhouse.

The Hounds toed the line on the National stage, racing against all NCAA Division I program's including the host Cougars, Houston Christian, Lamar, Minnesota, North Texas, Rice, SHSU, SMU, Texas State, TSU, UTEP.

The Fort was guided by top-tier performances on both the men's and women's squads highlighted by a handful of national qualifiers and multiple PR's.

There were strong showings across the board starting with an NJCAA nationals qualifying outing by Chaniqua Tonge who posted a 7.68 in the women's 60m, accompanied by a 7.81 PR performance by Brandi Drake. Ivana Odonkor registered a mark of 25.51 in the women's 200m, giving her the sixth-best performance in the NJCAA at the time of recording. To top it off, Odonkor also placed fourth in the women's 400 at 58.36, good for the best NJCAA mark in the country. Icey Green (No. 5, 5.34m) and Braela Sargent (No. 13 4.49m) leaped for marks that reflected top-15 NJCAA results at the time of competition.

Mario Paul (8.08finals) and Barry Richards (8.15q) donned the Maroon and Grey in the 60m hurdles, qualifying for finals and nationals with PR's. Paul set a PR in the qualifying round with an 8.10 mark, then went out in finals with another personal best of 8.08.

The men's 60m saw Michael Nworu and Josiah Taylor each earn personal best marks of 6.84 and 6.87, respectively. Taylor also earned a time of 21.67 in the men's 200m, placing him fourth on the NJCAA national leaderboard as of competition time. He was joined by Durrell Collins who was right behind him in line with a 21.74 effort, good for sixth in NJCAA as of Friday. Nickory Richards also posted a career best of 21.99 (No.9 in NJCAA in the 200m.

Fellow freshman teammate Dekell Minor also secured a PR with a time of 6.95. Three Greyhound men took the No. 2-4 spots in the men's 400m, represented by Charmar Smith (2nd-place, 49.63), Richards (3rd-place, 49.72) & Collins (fourth-place, 49.98).

Final Results from the Invite can be found here: https://live.flashresultstexas.com/meets/29098.

The Hounds are back on the track next weekend in Pittsburg, Kan., for the NAIA/Juco Challenge hosted by Pittsburg State University, just 30 minutes south of The Fort.