El Dorado, Kansas-- The Indian Hills track and field team competed in the 2018 NJCAA Outdoor Track & Field National Championships hosted by Butler Community College May 17-19th. The team finished 26th overall. The Warrior men saw three school records go down with five events finishing in the top thirteen. The squad was lead by Nathan Winter's 4th place All-American finish in the shot put (16.64m). Winters also placed 13th in the discus with a throw of 44.51m. Winters finished his career with four All-American performances, going down as the most decorated track and field athlete in program history.
The sprint squad rewrote the school record books in the 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay and open 400m. The men's 4x100m relay comprised of Bernard McCann III, Brieon Randle, Joshua Raphael and Deterio Newman dropped their school record from 41.82 seconds to 40.98 seconds, finishing 12th in the prelims. The relay was ranked `6th going into the meet, finishing .64 seconds from a top eight time which would have advanced them to the finals. Deterio Newman competed in the 400m prelims shortly after. Newman drew a competitive heat, racing against two athletes who had won a combined three national titles in the event. The Sikeston, Missouri native didn't back down, placing second in his heat behind the eventual national champion. Newman beat the defending national champion in his heat, running a time of 46.54 seconds. This mark broke his previous school record of 46.93 seconds, placing him 12th overall, .32 seconds from qualifying for finals. Newman was ranked 27th going into the meet.
The third school record to go down was the men's 4x400m relay made up of Brieon Randle, Jeremy Leath, Chris Kubli and Deterio Newman. The quartet entered the national championships ranked 16th, with their previous best being 3:15.81 at the 2018 NJCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championships where the relay finished 8th overall, earning All-American status. The relay broke the school record in the 4x400m prelims, crossing the line in 3:14.23. Despite the fast time, the relay missed finals by less than a second, finishing 10th overall.
Colton Lanman and Chris Kubli also competed at the national meet. Lanman and five others were unable to clear the lofty opening height of 1.98m in the high jump. Kubli participated in the 800m prelims. The school record holder was tripped up 350 meters into the race and was unable to recover, finishing 26th overall in 2:09.
The 2017-18 track and field team finished the year setting twenty school records between the indoor and outdoor seasons.