Indoor track competes at national meet

Thirteen individual event qualifiers and four relay teams represented the Colby Community College men's and women's indoor track team at the NJCAA National Indoor Track & Field Championships March 3-4 in Pittsburg.

"If Indoor nationals wasn't like taking a nice bite of humble pie, I don't know what is," said head coach Cameron Reith. "It was a very competitive field across the board. We had some of our athletes show up and some did not."

For the women, freshman Winnie Kibet earned All-American status in two events. She finished fourth in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:16.33, and second in the 5,000m at 17:56.13.

"Winnie had an outstanding day and her hard work is really paying off. I think coming so close will fuel her for outdoor," said Rieth.

The 4x800m relay team of Breanna Pratt, Mackenzie Dill, Jessenia Ixta and Celestine Koumasse concluded with a season best 10:02.79 to claim the eleventh spot. 

"We came very close to scoring points in several events, a couple who just barely missed it by a couple inches or seconds," Rieth said.

The men's team was close in three events to placing in the top eight for All-American honors. Oral "Jerry" Rolle finished eleventh in the long jump (22-11) and Oscar Leyva was twelfth in the 3,000m (9:01.11). The distance medley relay team of Abel Ketema, Ricardo Richardson, Mauro Arancibia and Iley Bruce finished ninth with a time of 10:33.83.

"We see what being a top athlete looks like and we are going to stay focused on what we can control and keep working towards getting the best out of each other," Rieth concluded.
                                                                                                                                             
CCC women's results: