Pair of Tiger runners hit national qualifying marks at Washburn Open

With the region and conference meet only two weeks away, the Cowley College men and women's indoor track and field teams continues to make steady improvement as evidenced by the squads' performances Friday and Saturday at the Washburn University Open held in Topeka.

"It was good to get some more bodies out there competing and continuing to improve," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said.

The Tiger men were led by a pair of new national qualifying performances from Keorapetse Nkopane in the 60-meter dash and Goran Duijsters in the 800-meter run.

"It is good to see their development and improvement each time they compete in their events," Rieth said.

The Lady Tigers also had some solid performances and several athletes closing in on national qualifying marks.

The Cowley College indoor track and field teams will now prepare to participate in the Pittsburg State University Gorilla Classic Friday and Saturday in Pittsburg, KS. Friday's events will begin at 2 p.m. and Saturday's competition will start at noon.

"We will take a split squad to Pitt State and want to use the meet as a springboard for the outdoor season," Rieth said.

Cowley results:

MEN

*60-meter dash – Keorapetse Nkopane, 6.82, sixth, national qualifier; Devonte Pruitt, 6.98, 13^th; Garrah Bauer, 7.45, 93^rd.

*200-meter dash – Siyabonga Jiyane, 22.31, 41^st.

*5,000-meter run – Santiago Nunez, 15:12.13, 21^st; Muneer Suied, 16:09.93, 22^nd; Jordi Dommerholt, 15:50.00, 28^th; Aidan Wells, 15:48.82, 29^th; Basheer Suied, 16:17.62, 35^th.

*Weight throw – Jaden Schneeberger, 55-10 ½, eighth; Abner Johnson, 50-4, 16^th; Julian Washington, 36-8 ½, 37^th.

*Pole vault – Riley Hunter, 13-1 ½, third.

*High jump – Garrah Bauer, 6-0 ¾, sixth; Felipe Mentz, 5-8 ¾, 17^th.

*60-meter hurdles – Diego Andres-Dougan, 8.02, third; Felipe Mentz, 9.47, 38^th.

*Mile run – Randy Rojas-Menez, 4:29.32, 47^th.

*800-meter run – Goran Duijsters, 1:54.77, ninth, national qualifier.

*4x400-meter relay – Cowley "A" (Tomasso Bruni, Siyabonga Jiyane, Jeremy Garcia, K'Anthony Benjamin, 3:22.78, eighth; Cowley "B" (Rojas-Mendez, Duijsters, Mentz, Bauer), 3:29.97, 26^th.

*Shot put – Abner Johnson, 48-11 ¾, 14^th; Schneeberger, 43-4 ½, 29^th; Lance Blubaugh, 42-9, 30^th.

WOMEN

*5,000-meter run – Andrea Garcia-Gonzalez, 19:45.00, ninth; Yazmin Reyes, 20:06.12, 11^th.

*Pole vault – Carla Santos, 9-10, eighth.

*Triple jump – Abby Rueschhoff, 36-0 ¼, third.

*Weight throw – Kayla McClellan, 49-2 ¼, 13^th; McKenna Markle, 41-0 ¼, 38^th.

*High jump – LaShae' Smith, 5-1 ¾, eighth.

*60-meter hurdles – Mercedes Glover, 11.32, 38^th.

*Mile run – Delicia Boothe, 5:47.12, 54^th.

*400-meter dash – Isabella Kupka, 58.19, 10^th.

*800-meter run – Abigail Pinnock, 2:22.64, 31^st; Layla Ingalls, 2:28.27, 51^st.

*4x400-meter relay – Cowley "A" (Kupka, Bridges, Shire, Smith), 4:17.88, 11^th; Cowley "B" (Ingalls, Pinnock, Boothe, Pi-Rodriguez), 4:23.63, 16^th.

*Long jump – Abby Rueschhoff, 15-2 ¾, 25^th.

*Shot put – Chloe Grusing, 35-2 ½, 33^rd.