Top ranked Cougars add six additional national qualifiers from Iowa weekend #GoBarton

Top ranked Barton Community College men's track and field team bulked its national qualifying list to thirty-eight by adding six more from performances this weekend in the Black & Gold Premier hosted by the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.

The Cougars captured three of the meet's events among its twenty-seven top nine placings while setting ten new personal best efforts.

Personal bests were broke not once but twice in the 60m as both Christian Lyon and Demetri Keaton took second and third in the event. Lyon shaved his time down to 6.73 to move up to fifth best in the country while Keaton's 6.80 qualified the Ohio freshman as the tenth fastest.

The breaking of personal bests twice also occurred in the hurdle variety of the 60m as Charlie Forbes and Stephon Torrence flip-flopped the nation second and third spots with a 7.94 and 7.99 respectively in finishing fourth and fifth in the event.

Adriano Gumbs punched his national ticket in the 600m, beating out a couple of teammates for the title in 1:22.30. Hilton McClain, Jr. clocked a 1:24.00 with Brandon Felix crossing in 1:25.23.

A photo finish runner-up in the 800m by a mere .16 seconds, Tallan James' personal best 1:54.79 held steady at No. 4 on the national list while Nathan Hood landed in the nation's eleventh spot with his third place 1:56.38.

Three personal best leaps occurred in the long jump with Bradley Fleurinord edging out Travis Hugg by less than two inches for second place. Fleurinord held steady on the national list with his 7.27m (23-10.25) mark while Hugg moved into the third spot at 7.23m (23-9.75) jump. Cirr Davis placed eighth in the event at 6.72m (22-00.75).

The Cougars' next meet with be its second trip of the season to Lincoln, Nebraska, as Barton will compete in the weekend's Frank Sevigne Husker Invitational.