The Barton Community College men's track and field team continued their improvement this past weekend at the Masked Rider Open held at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. The Cougars reached national qualifying marks in three events and posted numerous personal bests throughout the day.
Competing for the first time this season in the 55 Meter Dash, the Cougars loaded up with six runners in the event. Leading the way was speedster David Winters who continues to show he is one of the nation's fastest. Sprinting to a national qualifying time in each of the three rounds including a best of 6.31 in the first round, Winters went on to finish 4th in the highly competitive event. Freshman William Brown also reached national times with personal best 6.37 in the semifinal round to just miss the finals by .01 seconds. The same margin separated Cougars Mike Simmons and Jaiden Brown as they finished 27th and 28th in 6.58 and 6.59 times respectively. Kennedy Mayweather finished in 36th with a time of 6.63 while Courtland Robinson finished 58th in 6.83.
In the 200 Meter Dash, Simmons posted a personal best and national qualifying time of 22.13 to finish 16th. Brown placed 28th in 22.44 while Mayweather wasn't too far behind at 22.87 to finish 47th. Robinson clocked in at 23.45 to place 62nd while Christian Black placed 72nd with a 24.00.
Appropriately named, Quick Stukes made his debut on the track to clock a qualifying mark of 49.57 in the 400 Meter Dash to finish in 14th place. Competing in the event for the first time this season, Raymond Robinson finished in 23rd with a time of 50.80, just .80 off qualifying standards.
In the mid-distance events the Cougars had a number of runners compete in the first time in events as well as post personal bests. In the 800 Meter Run distance runner Josh Watson ran the short event to finish 38th in 2:10.70. In a three way 1000 Meter Run competitive event amongst three Cougars, Kole Stiner came out on top running the event for the first time to finish 27th in 2:45.58. Setting personal best marks were Brady Holler and Zach Wilson as they finished close behind Stiner in the 29th and 30th places crossing the line in 2:45.74 and 2:46.87 respectively.
Having already posted a qualifying mark in the 800 Meter, freshman Sampson Azumah Laari extended his distance by competing in the 1 Mile Run to finish 12th in 4:27.88. Sophomore Tyler Lumpkin, who qualified last week at the Jayhawk Classic in the 1000 Meter, finished in 27th in 4:39.77.
In the relays, the Cougars posted their season best in the 4X400 Meter Relay. The team of R. Robinson, Winters, Shadrack Adu-Gyamfi, and Stukes crossed the finish in 13th place in 3:25.11. Barton struggled a little in the field events but was led by the personal best performance of Dylan Moore. Finishing 19th in Weight Throw, Moore exceeded his personal best by over a meter with a heave of 12.32m. W. Brown placed 17th in the Long Jump with a leap of 6.14m while Jamal Henson (Triple Jump) and Alireza Rafiei (Shot Put) both fouled in their respective events.
Barton will head back to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the second time this season as the Cougars will compete in the two-day Husker Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska.