Editor’s Note: The following is from buildersports.com.
After competing at the Tabor Invitational the previous weekend, in which both the Southwestern men’s and women’s 4x100m Relay teams qualified for the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Marion, Ind., the SC squads were back on the campus of Tabor College for the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships on Thursday and Friday.
Highlighting the two-day meet was the qualification of Keyshawn Jones in the 100m Dash for the Builder men, while the men’s squad ended the event in seventh place out of 12 teams. The women boasted a well-rounded two days, finishing up in fifth out of 12.
Beginning with the 100m Dash on the men’s side, three Moundbuilders posted top-notch times in the preliminary rounds on Thursday to reach the final on Friday. K. Jones, Phil Jones and Nick Jones all were among the top eight through the prelims with sub-10.90 second times. In the final, K. Jones paced the squad by notching his NAIA ‘B’ qualifying standard time of 10.52 seconds. He placed third in the conference with the effort and snagged six points for SC. P. Jones finished sixth with a time of 10.68, just .08 off the ‘B’ standard, wile earning three points. N. Jones came in eighth with a time of 10.78 to snag the final point of the event for the Moundbuilders.
Rachel Booker continued to show her mettle as a sprinter on the women’s side, finishing fourth overall after being the lone qualifier for the finals for SC. She clocked a time of 12.10 to snag five points and help the Moundbuilder women’s squad.
N. Jones was able to reach the men’s 200m Dash finals with a time of 22.07 in the preliminaries. He was the final qualifier. Then, though, he showed out in the final, crossing the finish line in just 21.67 seconds to place fifth among the eight qualified runners. He grabbed four points toward the men’s team score in the process.
Three women’s 200m Dash runners qualified for the finals from Southwestern. Kyah Hill, Booker and Meliah Hanna clocked the third, fifth and seventh best times among preliminary racers, respectively. Then, Hill improved to finish second overall with a time of 25.11 in the final, while Hanna turned heads and finished on the podium in third place with a time of 25.43 seconds. Booker finished fifth, as the trio combined to pick up 18 points for the Builder women’s team score.
Kiare Worthy snagged a few points for SC in the 400m Dash, as he ended up finishing sixth among the field. He ended with a time of 50.34, which put him in position to grab three more points for the SC men.
Hill and Hanna stepped up in the 400m for the women, as they tallied fifth and sixth place finishes, respectively. Hill had a time of 59.15 seconds, while Hanna’s 59.73 second clip earned three additional points for Southwestern. In total, seven points were added to the team score in the women’s 400m Dash.
The Moundbuilder women kept racking up points, as Kirstin Hackney’s 2:28.14 time in the 800m Run was good enough to place her in sixth. She snagged three more points for SC with her efforts.
Austin Schaeffer continued to put up great numbers in the 1500m Run, as he came across at 4:01.64, which put him in third place among the field. He grabbed six points for Southwestern’s men with the run.
Both Kacie Lancaster and Hackney were able to tally points for the Builder women during their 1500m race. Lancaster placed sixth with a time of 5:04.03, while Hackney was right behind her with a clip of 5:10.54.
Isai Aguilar’s efforts in the 110m Hurdles put him in the final race, where he earned the eighth position with a time of 17.30 seconds. He nabbed a point for SC with the performance.
The women’s 400m Hurdles were run by Kentayshija Pruitt, who managed to finish in 1:05.12 to medal in the event. With the result, six more points were filtered into the Moundbuilder women’s team score for the two-day event.
Hayden Boydston clocked in at 56.35 in the men’s 400m Hurdles, which earned him podium honors in third place. Additionally, Aguilar came in seventh for Southwestern, which added on a pair of points. Aguilar’s 1:01.05 time helped SC continue to add points to their total.
Both the men’s and women’s 4x100m Relay teams finished in third place in their respective events, as neither team was able to match their out-of-this-world efforts from last weekend. However, the men still hit the NAIA ‘B’ qualifying standard with a time of 41.50. The women posted a 48.08 time for their podium finish. Each team grabbed six points with their efforts.
The women’s 4x400m Relay stood out, as the group of Pruitt, Booker, Lauryn Terry and Hanna ran a 3:58.81 time to notch a victory for the Builder women at the KCAC Championships. A full 10 points were awarded to the team for the win.
The men were not able to match that level of success, but still competed admirably, finishing fifth with a time of 3:24.30. The roster, consisting of Tyshawn Brownfield, Worthy, Kyle Richardson and Antwone Crawford, snagged four points in the race.
Brownfield, Mason Blochowiak, Luis Bellor-Gardner and Schaeffer competed in the 4x800m Relay for the SC men, as well. They finished the race in seventh place with a time of 8:20.16 to earn two points toward the team score for the meet.
In the field, the women put forth Hanna in the High Jump, where she ended up finishing on the podium with a leap of 4’11” on her third and final attempt. She was awarded six points toward the Builder women’s score.
Then, in the women’s Pole Vault, Kloie Simons was able to convert her dismount at the 9’8″ height on her first try to tie for third place. She was given 5.5 points because of the tie.
Ketura Earl tallied a pair of points for the SC women with her Hammer Throw, where she was able to manage her best throw of 129’9″ on her sixth and final attempt of the competition to earn the two points for the Moundbuilders.
Those were the last of the points scored for the two squads, as the men grabbed 44 points over the course of the two days to finish seventh, while the women had 73.5 points to end the meet in fifth place out of 12 teams in the conference.
The season is not over for the two squads, as they will still have an opportunity to qualify additional athletes for the NAIA Outdoor Track & Field Championships this coming weekend. The Concordia Last Chance Qualifier in Seward, Neb. will host teams from all over the Midwest who are searching for another chance to qualify. That meet is held on Friday, May 12, as select Builder athletes will be in attendance.
