The Barton Community College track and field program picked up three of four weekly conference awards announced by the KJCCC as the women's Christal Mosley and men's Phillip Lemonious earned the track athletes of week four while the Cougars' Shakwon Coke received the field athlete award.
For Mosley the award is the second within the first four weeks of indoor action, winning the initial honor finishing second overall in the 400m at the Ted Nelson Invitational in College Station, Texas, back on January 17. This past weekend at the 45th annual Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska, Mosley again blistered the 400m track to a meet gold medal and program 7th best ever 54.45 to solidify her NJCAA leading time this season.
Lemonious also took a liking to UNL's Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor track, taking second place overall with a program 3rd best 7.75 to over the season's NJCAA leaderboard.
Coke joins Mosley as a two-time conference award winner this season, making it back-to-back weeks of being recognized for his NJCAA leading jumping abilities. Two weeks ago at the Black and Gold Premier in Iowa City, Iowa, Coke set the meet long jump record soaring to a 7.60m (24-11.00). This past weekend in Nebraska, Coke placed third amongst NCAA Division I competition in the triple jump, marking a 15.41m (50-06.75) to lead both the long and triple jump event leaderboard by at least seven inches.
Overall, the Cougars have accumulated seven of the possible sixteen conference awards so far in the season. The Barton women also garnered a week three award with Annia Ashley earning the field athlete honor after winning the Black and Gold Premier high jump with a NJCAA leading 1.70m (5-07.00) height while Phillipe Barnett received the week two honor after a then program second best weight throw of 19.38m (63-07.00) performance. One week later in Iowa, Barnett bettered the throw, marking a 19.84m (65-01.25) distance to break the program record of 19.79m set by Alencar Pereira.
Barton also has a national award winner so far in the season as Davonte Burnett was named the National Track Athlete in week three by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Burnett's trip to the Red Raider Invitational in Lubbock, Texas, led to a personal best 60m time of 6.66 for third place and the 6th fastest time in program history. Later Burnett took on the 200m field, bettering the competition in his specialty event for a winning 20.73 for a program 4th best ever time and officially 3rd best on the all-time NJCAA performance list. The time also put him on the third slot of the nation's collegian leaderboard at any level this year.
The nation's 2nd ranked Cougar men and 3rd ranked women are currently preparing for post-season, heading to Pittsburg, Kansas, February 21-22 for the Region VI/KJCCC Championships before setting sights on the national stage set for March 6-7 in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Cougars own the top mark in four events with three athletes, led by Coke in the long jump and triple jump Burnett in the 200, and Lemonious in the 60 hurdles while the 2019 indoor defending champion women have three national leaders in Mosley's 400m, the 4x400m relay squad, and Fiona Richards' program record breaking shot put mark of 16.28m (53-05.00), eclipsing the record by over a foot set last season by Latavia Maines.