Cougars close out indoor season with 14th place at NJCAA Championships

The Barton Community College men's track and field team wrapped up the indoor season this past weekend scoring 18 points with five top ten performances to finish in fourteen place at the NJCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field National Championships held at the New Balance Track and Field Center at The Armory in upper Manhattan, New York.  The Cougars scored 18 points with five top ten finishes. 

The Cougars had three sprinters in the 60 Meter Dash with two making the finals.  David Winters led the way with a sixth place time of 6.83 while teammate William Brown finished in seventh at 6.89.  Barton ran faster prelim times as Winters clocked a 6.77 while Brown posted a season best 6.85.  Jaiden Brown failed to make finals placing 28th in 7.01.    

Winters, J. Brown, and Mike Simmons also competed in the 200 Meter Dash with Winters being the lone Cougar to reach finals.  After clocking a 21.35 in the prelims, Winters ran a season best 21.21 to finish third in the finals.  J. Brown finished 28th in 22.36 while Simmons finished in 30th place in a time of 22.41.  Quick Stukes was the lone Barton competitor in the 400 Meter Dash placing 21st in a time of 50.17.

Sampson Laari led the mid-distance runners earning a fourth place in the 800 Meter Run and grabbing a seventh place finish in the 1000 Meter Run.  Sampson exceeded his season best prelim time by over two and half seconds in the final round to cross in 1:54.02.  Like Agnes Abu on the women's side, Laari had less than forty minutes to get recovered for the 1000 Meter finals.  Having posted a season best 2:31.07 in the prelims, Laari ran a second and a half slower in the finals to finish in 2:32.47.  Tyler Lumpkin also ran in the 1000 Meter knocking four seconds off his previous best to place 19th in 2:36.93.  Lumpkin continued his personal climb shaving over nine seconds to clock a season best 4:30.18 to finish 15th in the 1 Mile Run.

Dylan Moore was the lone thrower for Barton finishing 17th in the Weight Throw with a heave of 12.35m.

W. Brown was the lone Cougar jumper placing 12th in the Long Jump at 6.44m which was nearly a foot better than his season best.

The Cougar 4X400 Meter Relay team placed 13th but clocked a season best time by nearly five seconds.  The team of Ebu Camara, Raymond Robinson, Stukes, and Laari, who just competed in the 1000 Meter thirty minutes prior, crossed the line in tag teamed to cross the line in 3:20.97.

The Cougars will now turn their attention to the outdoor season beginning March 22 at the Butch Reynolds Invitational in El Dorado, Kansas.

Photos of the Cougars at the NJCAA Championships can be found at www.flickr.com/BartonSports/sets