JUCO track and field: IHCC brings home regional indoor titles

Feb. 22—STORM LAKE — The Indian Hills men's track and field team continued to set new benchmarks throughout the 2023-24 indoor campaign.

Tthe Warriors placed second overall at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Indoor Championship, the best finish in program history.

Highlighted by seven individual region titles, including five on the final day of competition, the Warriors scored 184 team points to place second behind top-finisher Iowa Western Community College. The seven individual titles are the most in a single Region championship in program history, topping the 2022 program's six titles.

Friday night saw the Warriors open up postseason action in impressive fashion with two individuals. Tate Joens and Troy Johnson garnered individual region titles to power the Warriors on day one of the two-day championship event.

Joens put the nation on notice Friday night in the men's weight throw with the top mark among all NJCAA participants this season, shattering his own school record with a distance of 18.56 meters. Joens captured the weight throw championship to score 10 team points for the Warriors, winning the event by more than 1.5 meters. Joens becomes the first-ever NJCAA Region 11 Weight Throw individual champion in school history for the Warriors.

Along with Joens, the Warriors saw top-five efforts in the weight throw from teammates Michael Etuma and Ryan Edelman who both hit personal-best marks for the Warriors. Etuma placed third overall with a mark of 16.65 meters, the sixth-best mark in the nation to earn a spot on the podium while Edelman placed fifth overall with a mark of 16.4, ranked seventh in the nation this year. The duo combined for 10 team points in the event

Johnson continued to star for the Warriors in the long jump event as the sophomore collected the individual Region title to score 10 points for the Warriors. An NJCAA All-American from a year ago, Johnson jumped to a mark of 7.23 meters, outlasting North Iowa Area Community College's Terrence Thomas by 0.02 meters.

Johnson was joined by teammate Anthony Ward who posted a mark of 7.15 meters in the event to place fourth overall. Both Johnson and Ward rank 1-2 in school history, respectively in the long jump event.

Indian Hills stayed within contention throughout the duration of the day on Saturday as the Warriors saw region titles from Keveroy Venson, Brandon Ford, Terrick Johnson, Triston Miller and the men's 4x400-meter relay squad.

Johnson made headlines on Saturday with a meet record performance in the 600-meter run. Johnson ran the third-fastest time in program history to take the Region title in a time of 1:19.85. Johnson's performance broke a nine-year old meet record to score 10 team points for the Warriors. Indian Hills has now captured four of the previous six 600m titles, including back-to-back championships now.

Venson became the second consecutive individual to win the 1,000-meter Region championship for the Warriors, joining former national champion Rivaldo Marshall, and became just the third individual in school history to take the top podium spot in the event. Venson ran to a time of 2:28.16, edging Iowa Central Community College's Housem Hrabi by 0.09 for the title.

Ford became the program's first-ever 3,000-meter region champion as the freshman continued an unprecedented rookie campaign. Ford took the event with ease, winning by more than 10 seconds with a mark of 8:40.42 for the Warriors.

Miller became the program's first-ever 60-meter hurdles champion after dominating the event with a time of 7.93 seconds, nearly breaking his own school record. As a team, the Warriors took the top two podium spots as Cyrus Ways checked in with a time of 8.05 to take second overall in the event. Miller, the school record holder in the heptathlon, also took second overall in the men's long jump with a distance of 2.05 meters on Saturday.

The Warriors' dominance in the 4x400 relay event continued with the program's fifth consecutive Region championship. Terrick Johnson, Chris Johnson, Jah'vauni Wheeler and Ways ran away from the field with a meet and facility record mark of 3:15.83. The quartet captured the title by more than six seconds to win the title. Chris Johnson was now captured back-to-back 400m relay championships for the Warriors.

The Warriors also saw a number of impressive individual performances that scored team points on Saturday. Cole Reinders took second overall in the men's 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.97 while Chris Johnson closed out a tight 400-meter dash with a second-place showing.

Anthony Ward jumped to a mark of 14.54 meters in the men's triple jump to take silver while Troy Johnson placed fourth overall in the event.

Traunard Folson finished second overall in the men's 60-meter dash with a time of 6.64 seconds, tying the previous meet record. Stephen Brown also scored in the event with a time of 6.86.

Along with Joens' impressive showing on Friday night, the freshman also took third in the men's shot put with a school record throw of 16.62 meters, the seventh-best mark in the nation this year.

The Warriors have asserted themselves with during the indoor season. Indian Hills produced a historic performance earlier this month at the ninth-annual Pittsburg State Gorilla Classic in the distance medley relay as Reinders, Chris Johnson, Terrick Johnson and Venson produced a time of 9:43.6, shattering the all-time National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) record by nearly three seconds with a time of 9:43.6.

"This was a record that we had been talking about ever since the guys got to campus in August," stated Indian Hills head coach Brent Ewing. "We definitely knew breaking the record was achievable going into the race. I had a note in my phone for months with goal splits that I felt our guys could run.

"The special thing about this race in particular is that we only get to run it once or twice per year. That increases the pressure to go out there and perform."

Indian Hills will now turn their attention to the upcoming NJCAA Indoor National Championship, being held in Gainesville, Florida Mar. 1-2.