Lady Tigers repeat as indoor conference champions

With five conference champions and three region champs, the Cowley College women's track and field team repeated as conference champions at the Region VI/Jayhawk Conference Indoor Championships held Saturday and Sunday at Pittsburg State University.

The Lady Tigers were led by sophomores Dakota Dapper (pole vault) and Cierra Gray (shot put), who finished as conference and region champions.

Other conference champions for the Lady Tigers were Dhennifer Vaz (1,000-meter run), Kayli Myers (5,000-meter run), and Mercedes Glover (weight throw).

"Winning a conference championship is never taken for granted," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said. "We know all the work and effort it takes from everyone involved just to have the opportunity. Job well done on the ladies' side. Also, major kudos to our assistant coaches, Glenwood Edwards and Parker Ray."

The Lady Tigers claimed the top three places in the conference in the pole vault, shot put, and 1,000-meter run.

"Coming into championship weekend, we told our athletes we were going to be asking a lot of them," Rieth said. "More than anything we just appreciate the effort. Everyone chipped in on the effort across all event groups."

Making the most of nine NJCAA Region 6 individual champions and six NJCAA Region 6 individual runner-up finishes, the Cloud County T-Birds finished the weekend with 175.5 points to outpace NJCAA Region 6 runners-up Barton Community College as the Cougars earned 138.5 points to finish as the only other team of the 13 teams to score at the meet to break the 100-point mark. Hutchinson Community College earned a third-place finish with 85 total points, while Fort Scott (75.5 points) and Cowley (74.5 points) rounded out the top five in the region team scoring.

KJCCC Coaching honors were earned by Cloud County's Drew Mahin (KJCCC Women's Head Coach of the Year) and Barton's Emmanuel Dixon (KJCCC Women's Assistant Coach of the Year) with Mahin leading Cloud County to their fourth Region 6 Indoor Track title in the past five years while Dixon was the primary event coach for the Barton sprints and relays that accounted for 41 of Barton's 138.5 points at the meet.

The Lady Tigers will now set their sights on the NJCAA Division 1 National Indoor Championships held on March 7-8 in Lubbock, TX.

Region results:

*60-meter dash – Karma Singleton, 8.40, 24^th; Daynel Calvo, 8.67, 29^th.

*200-meter dash – GraceKnight, 27.05, 23^rd; Mahalee Bilhimer, 27.42, 25^th.

*400-meter dash - Grace Knight, 1:01.19, 15^th.

*600-meter run – Bilhimer, 1:50.29, 12^th.

*800-meter run – Dayanna Brito-Hernandez, 2:33.89, 16^th; Daniela Lozano-Cardenas, 2:44.94, 21^st; Lili Rose-Breheret, 2:46.67, 22^nd.

*1,000-meter run – Dhennifer Vaz, 3:13.56,  seventh; Daniela Lozano-Cardens, 3

;48.66, 10^th; MarLanna Lozano-Cardenas, 4:06.19, 11^th.

*Mile run – Savannah Fischer, 5:35.46, eighth; Lili Rose-Breheret, 5:59.17, 11^th; Mariana Lozano-Cardenas, 6:40.52, 17^th.

*3,000-meter run – Kayli Myers, 11:03.70, seventh; Fischer, 11:31.76, 11^th; Pauline Althoff, 11:38.26, 12^th.

*5,000-meter run – Myers, 19:00.70, fourth; Althoff, 20:11.20, 10^th; Breheret, 20:30.35, 11th.

*60-meter hurdles – Karma Singleton, 10.41, 13^th; Makayla Gay, 34-8 ¾, 15^th; Mya Johnson, 38-6, 18^th.

*4x400-meter relay – Cowley (Knight, Bilhimer, Calvo, Riannon St. Clair), 4:16.73, seventh.

*Distance Medley Relay – Cowley (Daniela Lozano-Cardenas, Knight, Brito-Hernandez, Fischer), 13:28.67, fifth.

*Long jump – Mya Johnson, 13-6, 18^th.

*Triple jump – Riannon St. Clair, 34-1, ninth.

*High jump – St. Clair, 4-8 ¼, sixth; Gay, 4-6 ½, ninth.

*Pole vault – Dakota Dapper, 11-9 ¾, conference and region champion; Elizabeth Brozek, 10-5, third; Kennedy Kizarr, 10-5, fourth.

*Shot put – Ciera Gray, 46-9, conference and region champion; Bree Rowe, 37-4, fifth; Jessi McDowell, 36-8, seventh.

*Weight throw – Mercedes Glover, second, 51-0; Mayce McDonald, 48-5, fourth; Bree Rowe, 46-9, eighth.