Cougars capture ESU Spring Open title as Barton track and field teams opens outdoor season with twenty-five national qualifying performances #GoBarton

The Barton Community College track and field teams opened the outdoor season this past windy Friday at the ESU Spring Open hosted by Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas.

The Cougar men captured six individual titles with fourteen national qualifying performances in their twenty-eight top ten placers to pile up 169 points to take the team crown among the sixteen team field. The Lady Cougars, who had eleven qualifiers within their twelve top ten placers, finished with a 68 point sixth place out of nineteen squads.

Although not an individual event winner, Enrique Martinez' runner-up hammer throw was historically a better performance as the sophomore from El Salvador threw a program third best mark at 57.43m (188-05). Graham Sokol was also a national qualifier in the event, marking a personal best 52.58m (172-06) in placing fourth to rank second on the early national chart leaders.

Fifty-six sprinters were entered in the 200m with the Cougars having six within the top sixteen. Like Martinez in the hammer, Samson Colebrooke didn't win the event but his 20.90 was good for the nation's early lead in the runner-up placing while Dartez Hamlin put up a nation's fourth best time in 21.33 in placing fourth.

The Cougars owned their first event on the oval as both 4x100m relay teams took the top spot with the first crossing in 41.83 with the second squad close behind at 42.12.

Stephon Torrence won Barton's first individual track event clocking a nation's best 14.31 for the 110m hurdle title. Later in the meet Kenroy Williams also put up a nation's best in the 400m hurdles with a 53.33 time as Brandon Felix' third place 54.93 and Marquise Hill's fourth place 55.04 were also good for third and fifth nationally.

Barton also captured two jumping titles with both hitting the sand in a nation second best mark. In the long jump Willie Rodgers took the title with a leap of 7.29m (23-11.00) with Cirr Davis placing seventh at 6.88m (22-07.00). Alvin McCray led three Cougars in the top six of the triple jump with his second spot 15.16m (49-09.00) triple jump title with Davis taking third at 14.48m (47-06.25) while Timothy Wilson's 14.12m (46-04.00) mark was good for sixth.

Highlighting the women's performances was the 100m hurdle title of Mahendra McWhite, taking the event title in 14.00 to rank second on the national chart while Olivian Jackson's fourth place 14.76 time is one spot behind on the early season chart. Jackson also ranked second in the 400m hurdle event in clocking an event runner-up 1:05.08 time.

Like the Cougar men, the Lady Cougars also put two entries in the 4x100m relay event with team 'A' clocking a 47.08 for runner-up while team 'B' took fourth in 47.64.
The trio of discus throwers placed within the top nine of the event, as well as, fell within the top seven of the national chart. Shyledeen Smith led the way in placing fourth with a nation's third best 43.32m (142-01) while Latavia Maines' eight place 41.35m (135-8) and Kameliah Style's ninth place 40.61m (133-3) were good for sixth and seventh nationally respectively.

Barton will have a week away from competition stretching through the College's spring break before traveling to Austin, Texas, March 29-31 to compete in the Texas Relays hosted by the University of Texas.

Complete ESU Spring Open results