Lady Cougar track and field take five national championships, place fourth at NJCAA Indoor Championships

The Barton Community College women's track and field team placed fourth over the weekend 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 Lady Cougars scored 52 points as Lydia Mato and Agnes Abu won a combined five events with Bethany Bowman placing seventh  to earn Barton an additional two points.  Mato, who won three distance events, earned the distinctive Female Athlete of the Meet Award after earning two distinctive awards after the Region VI Championships two weeks earlier. 

Lydia Mato led the Lady Cougars with three individual championships, posting season best times in winning both the 5000m and 3000m on Friday then held off a late charge in Saturday's 1 Mile Run to claim her third victory.  Running amongst three Iowa Central runners in the 5000 Meter, Mato ran an incredible last lap to pass her opponents to capture the first individual race of the Championships running a 17:38.68 to better the field by two and a half seconds.  Mato wrapped up her first day of competition winning the 3000 Meter by nearly a second a half breaking the tape at 10:16.04.  On Saturday Mato needed a lean at the finish to hold off a hard charging Gillette College's Makala Diggs to win by .13 in a time of 5:97.47.   Recognized for her efforts on the track, Mato capped her NJCAA Indoor debut being named the Female Athlete of the Meet.

Winning both of her individual races, Agnes Abu held off the field in capturing both the 800 Meter and 1000 Meter Runs.  After posting a season best 2:16.68 in the prelims on Friday, Abu ran an even faster 2:13.38 to beat the nearest competitor by ninety-one seconds.  Having less than forty minutes between the 800 and 1000 meter races, Abu exceeded her season best 1000 meter time of 3:02.45 to capture her second championship with the closest race of the day by leaning at the tape to scrape out a narrow .01 victory in a time of 2:55.56.

Despite clocking season best times, Modesty Lorick and Kiana Winston both missed finals in the 60 Meter Hurdles.  Lorick crossed the tape in 9:02 to finish 13th while Winston was close behind at 9.06 to finish 15th.  

The Lady Cougar 4X400 Meter Relay team placed 10th but clocked a season best time by over four seconds.  The team of Modesty Lorick, Lahni Clifton, Kiana Winston, and Agnes Abu, who just won the 1000 Meter thirty minutes prior, tag teamed to cross the line in 3:58.51.

In the jumps, Bethany Bowman led the way with a 7th place finish in the High Jump.  After clearing 5'0" and 5'2" on her first attempts, the Emporia freshman was knocked out of the competition failing to clear 5'3".  Annette Gaskins led Barton in the Long Jump finishing 9th with a leap of 5.50m while N'Kia Jones finished 14th at 5.26m.  Jones also competed in the Triple Jump finishing 9th at 11.35m while Tahje Ochs finished in 17th place at 10.57m.

Susan Evans was the lone thrower for Barton finishing 12th in the Shot Put with a throw of 12.19m.

In addition the relay, Clifton also competed in the Pentathlon matching or exceeding her previous bests in each of the five events to finish 13th overall with a score of 2,736 points.

The Lady 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 Lady Cougars at the NJCAA Championships can be found at www.flickr.com/BartonSports/sets