Mato breaks record, Lady Cougars get five national qualifying performances at Holiday Inn Invite

The Barton Community College women's track and field team competed in their second meet of the indoor season this weekend in Lincoln, Nebraska at the Holiday Inn Invitational.  Held at the Bob Devaney Sports Center Indoor Track on the campus of the University of Nebraska, the Lady Cougars posted five national qualifying performances and broke a school record while competing against athletes from the University of Nebraska, Iowa State University, Oklahoma State University, Drake University, the University of South Dakota, Jayhawk Conference members Cowley College and Cloud County Community Colleges, as well as, NJCAA rivals Iowa Central and Iowa Western Community Colleges.

"A solid follow up to the first weekend at Air Force," said Barton Head Track and Field Coach David Schenek.  "We are still improving and with every meet will see times drop and marks improve.  The coaching staff has put together an excellent training plan and you can see it by what we're doing on the track."

Lydia Mato, who made her collegiate debut in last year's Holiday Invite by posting the third best 5000m time in school history, made her 2015 debut in the event by shattering the school record this time.  Finishing second behind South Dakota's Amber Eichkorn, Mato surpassed Kristijna Loonen's 1995 school record by sixteen seconds in setting the new mark at 17:14.40.  Mato also anchored the Distance Medley Relay team of Holly Pierce, Widline Lageroy and Trenna Cox.  Finishing tenth in a time of 13:12.64 the team punched their ticket to the NJCAA National Championship.

Cox, a multi-sport athlete for the Lady Cougars, started off the meet with an eleven second improvement to set a personal record in the 800m, running 2:35.56 to finish 20th.  Also in the distances the mile trio of Pierce, Kaitlynn Tuey, and Yazmin Rendon ran 6:12, 6:18 and 6:31 to finish in 19th, 20th and 21st placings.  Julee McAtee debuted in the 1000m to run 3:32.42 to finish 23rd.

The Barton sprints were led by Vanessa Style recording national qualifying times in both the 60m Hurdles and the 200m.  Having qualified one week prior at the Air Force Open, Style bettered her time with an 8.75 in the preliminary round.  In the finals Style was slightly slower finishing just out of fourth place by .009 seconds in crossing the line in 8.85.  Tasha Frazier placed 15th among the 29 entries clocking a 9.40 after registering a season best 9.31 in prelims.  

Style made quite the debut in the 200m finishing 7th in a national qualifying 25.29 time.  Oneisha Glover took off .25 from her previous week's clocking to finish 16th out of 37 in a time of 25.99.

In addition to the DMR, Lageroy improved her national qualifying time in the 400m placing 8th in a time of 48.66.  

In the 60m, Glover led two Lady Cougars in the event.  Running an 8.11 in the prelims, Glover finished 19th in finals with an 8.13 while India Griffin's 8.26 place 26th.  

In the throws freshman Nicole Kruse threw 12.26m (40-02.75) to finish 11th in the Weight Throw.  Elizabeth Evans threw 11.74m (38-06.25) while Cox threw 8.74m (28-08.25) in the Shot Put to finish 13th and 16th respectively.

N'Kia Jones began her season with a Triple Jump of 10.04m (32-11.25) to finish 17th while Frazier leaped 5.23m (17-02.00) in the Long Jump to finish 16th.

The Lady Cougars return to action in two weeks as Barton travels to Lubbock, Texas, for the two day Masked Rider Open to be held January 30-31 at Texas Tech University.

Barton Performance List:

60m:
O'Neisha Glover (24th) 8.11
India Griffin (26th) 8.26
60m Hurdles:
Vanessa Style (5th) 8.85 Q
Tasha Frazier (15th) 9.40
200m:
Vanessa Style (7th) 25.29 Q
O'Niesha Glover (16th) 25.99
400m:
Widline Lageroy (9th) 58.66 Q
800m:
Trenna Cox (20th) 2:35.56
1000m:
Julee McAtee (20th) 3:32.42
1 Mile Run:
Holly Pierce (19th) 6:13.44
Kaitlynn Tuey (20th) 6:18.35
Yazmin Rendon (21st) 6:31.79
5000m:
Lydia Mato (2nd) 17:14.4 Q, School Record
Shot Put:
Elizabeth Evans (13th) 11.74m (38-06.25)
Trenna Cox (16th) 8.74m (28-08.25)
Weight Throw:
Nicole Kruse (11th) 12.26m (40-02.75)
Long Jump:
Tasha Frazier (16th) 5.23m (17-02.00)
Triple Jump:
N'Kia Jones (17th) 10.04m (32-11.25)
Distance Medley Relay:
Pierce, Lageroy, Cox, Mato (10th) 13:12.64 Q