Lynchburg, Virginia -- Indian Hills had All-American performances in three events in the 2020 NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship, with all three events breaking school records. The Warriors finished 18th overall in the meet held at the Liberty (University) Indoor Track Complex.
The IHCC 4x800 meter relay team of Micah Reed, Aytonn Bar-Shimon, Kohner Butts and Elijah Berry led the way for the Warriors with a third-place finish, the best ever for an Indian Hills relay. The quartet's time of 7:49.25 established a new school record, beating the old mark by over 12 seconds.
Tracy Gates led the field events with his 5th place finish in the triple jump, leaping 14.74 meters. Gates improved his performance at last year's national outdoor meet by nine places.
Elijah Berry took 8th in the finals of the 600 meters in 1:20.86. Berry raced four times over a two-day span and had a 48.32 split for the IHCC 4x400 relay. That unit finished 10th but was later disqualified due to an exchange zone violation.
Chris Hudnall placed 16th in the 60 meter hurdles, running 8.30.
Kendall Banks-Price cleared the opening height (1.95 meters) in the high jump before bowing out at 2.00 meters. He finished 14th.
Tyler Dunigan and Floyd Pond were 22nd and 23rd, respectively, in the 60 meters, both running 6.89.
"As a team, we were definitely hoping for a higher finish (than 18th) at the national meet," said Indian Hills head coach Brent Ewing. "There were some positive things that happened but we certainly had our eyes set on a higher team finish. I was really proud of the way Tracy Gates ended his indoor season. He has improved exponentially since last year. We were shooting for a national title in the men's 4x800 relay. Despite being in contention for the lead we weren't able to seal the deal. I'm proud of the way they competed though. Elijah Berry gave us everything he had with three races on Saturday alone, capping it off with an impressive 4x400 split. We're anxious to get some quality work in before opening up outdoors. Many of these athletes will not be competing at our first meet, Mar. 20 at Emporia State in Kansas."