The Barton Community College men's track and field team placed eighth at the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field National Championships held in Levelland, Texas. The Cougars earned forty-two points and set eight new personal bests with half its points and bests coming from its freshman class as Barton continued its climb improving six spots from its last year's outdoor standing.
Although the Cougars had no titles to show for their efforts, the team had three third place honorable mention all-American finishes to go along with the numerous personal bests efforts. Freshman Adama Mbye got things started in the triple jump leaping a personal best 15.67m (51-05.00) for a third place finish with teammate Leon Boyd grabbed two points with a 15.06m (49-05.00) seventh placing. Boyd would later earn his second seventh place finish in the jumps marking a personal long 7.33m (24-00.75) in Wednesday's long jump.
Two additional freshman raised their personal bests in the 110m hurdles led by Jermaine Jones' third place 14.06 time. Kevin Turner didn't make the finals ending up in the tenth spot but did clock a best 14.62 while Louis Rivers finished 16th in 14.93.
Throwing events earned the Cougars sixteen points led by freshman Ricky Nelson's third place discus throw of 53.11m (174-03). Sophomore Romario Antoine was one place behind winding up his Barton career with a personal best throw of 51.21m (168-00). Nelson also gave Barton another two points in the hammer with a personal best 53.61m (175-11) with sophomore Donald Daley exceeding the mark with a 54.95m (180-03) throw to finish one spot ahead in sixth place. Freshman Stevon Crooks just missed a personal best but was still good enough to grab the shot put eighth place with a 16.09m (52-09.50) heave.
McKinely West and Alex Richemond both cracked the top-8 as the duo recorded personal bests with West edging out the sophomore by .01 for a seventh place 20.93.
The pair joined forces on the 4x100m relay adding Chedlin Sagesse and Anthony Adderly as the group improved from the fifth fastest preliminary round to grab fourth place in 40.57.
Joining Adderly, Jaquez Wilson, and Paul Willis, Richemond added another top-8 honor to his credit in the final race of the day although bittersweet memories were left of the group's efforts. Getting the baton for the third leg of the 4x400m, Richemond was squeezed in on the first stretch losing valuable time as the team would go on to finish in seventh place at 3:19.52, a far cry from the team's fifth best preliminary time of 3:14.13.
Complete NJCAA Division I Outdoor results