The Barton Community College men's track and field team put on a show this past weekend competing in the Arkansas Spring Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Held at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas, the Cougars posted seventeen national qualifying performances to go along with fifteen top ten competing amongst eleven major universities including the No. 5 ranked host Razorbacks and two other top community colleges.
The Cougars were dominant in the sprints including taking both relay titles. The 4X100m team of Chedlin Sagesse, McKinely West, Anthony Adderly, and Alex Richemond was the first of the relay races on the track taking the title in a nation's fourth best time of 40.23. Taking the 100m to another level, the 4x400m team not only won the meet convincingly but recorded the nation's top time as Adderly, Richemond, Kadeem Williams, and Jaquez Wilson stopped the clock at 3:10.82.
The speedsters also didn't disappoint in the individual sprint races recording six combined national qualifying times in the 100, 200, and 400 meter races. In the 100m, the Cougars were led by West's third place 10.43 with Sagesse an eyelash behind in fifth at 10.51. Barton was also strong in the 200 taking the second, third, and the fourth places as West led the way at 20.96 just edging out Adderly's personal best 21.00 and Richemond's 21.13. Wilson, who anchored the 400m relay team, placed third in the 400m individual event recording his personal best time of 48.01.
Equally impressive were the hurdle events where the Cougars nearly had four top ten finishes with all four reaching qualifying standards. Jermaine Jones exceeded his personal bests in both events, finishing third in the 110m at 14.17 and eleventh in the 400m at 56.70. Also posting a personal time was Louis Rivers finishing tenth in the 110m at 14.84 while Williams took second place in the 400m at 52.11.
Just like the sprints, the field event athletes were also solid for the Cougars with six national marks. Leading the jumps was freshman Adama Mbye finishing fourth in a personal best 14.85m. In the field Barton had five top ten placings with a fifth and ninth place finishing coming in the Discus. Ricky Nelson led the way with a personal best 50.00m with Donald Daley taking the ninth slot with a 42.75m throw. Daley would get the better of Nelson in the Hammer Throw as the duo both reached national standards with Daley's 51.48m throw recording the seventh best mark in school history while finishing thirteenth while Nelson's 45.66m was good for twenty-first place. Tyler Patterson claimed a ninth place finish in the Javelin at 48.41 and Stevon Crooks earned a seventh place Shot Put finish with a personal best national mark at 16.22m.