WARRENSBURG, MO – There have been years that Brent Ewing would have gladly taken third place at the Region XI Indoor Championships.
Not this year, however.
Ewing's and his N0. 5-ranked men's track and field squad entered Saturday's regionals with their sights set on a potential runner-up placing behind top-rated Iowa Central. As it turned out, the Warriors were forced to settle for third.
"Going into the meet, I knew it was going to be a battle for the second spot," Ewing said. "We were without a few of our national qualifiers, who are in the process of returning from injury. My hope was that we could still pull off second place, but we fell short."
The day wasn't without highlights for the Warrior program; however, as IHCC took home gold in three individual events and a pair of relays.
Aurel Tchanbi continued his sensational freshman campaign by hitting the tape first in both the 60 and 200 meter sprints. Tchanbi's feat allowed the Warriors to collect their first-ever regional titles in both of those events.
"Our region is regarded as one of the elite regions in junior college when it comes to sprints," Ewing said. "It was impressive to see Aurel deliver in both of those sprints."
Tchanbi's times of 6.80 seconds in the 60 and 21.92 in the 200 came after some soul searching recently.
"Just a few weeks back, Aurel came to me unsure if the 60 meter dash was a good fit for him," Ewing explained. "He was struggling a little bit. He's a competitor, and he was focusing a little too much on the race around him instead of focusing on executing his race plan. He showed a lot of growth these last two meets."
For the second consecutive outing, the Warriors swept the 200-meter event as freshmen Kalen Walker and Ashton Sanders joined Tchanbi on the podium after taking second and third, respectively.
Ewing was impressed by Walker's growth as a sprinter as the local product (EBF of Eddyville) has surged during the indoor season.
"Kalen is currently ranked 12th in the nation in the 200 at 21.76 seconds," Ewing said. "His personal best in high school was 22.5 outdoors. He's a blue-collar athlete that gives me all he has every day in practice. I've only seen a handful of athletes in my time as a college coach improve as much as he has. His consistent hard work has turned him into one of the best sprinters in the nation."
Sophomore Jackson Burnett added 1,000-meter regional champion to his list of impressive accomplishments this season, as the New Jersey native clocked in at 2:30.19, a full three seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
"Jackson dominated that race," Ewing noted. "Even more impressive was that his effort in the 1,000 came after his 3:06 1,200-meter split in the distance medley relay. Jackson will enter the national meet as the favorite to win the 1,000."
In addition to the three individual titles on Saturday, the Warriors collected first-ever regional wins in the aforementioned distance medley relay as well as the 4x400 event. The medley team of Burnett, Jerry Harper, Aytonn Bar-Shimon and Nick O'Connor set the school record (10:25.63) in addition to taking first place.
"That victory in the medley stood out," Ewing said. "They obliterated the previous school record of 10:50, won by nine seconds, and ran the second-fastest time in the NJCAA this year."
Not to be outdone, the Warrior 4x400 ended the meet on a high note as Justin Walden, Sanders, Zackary Nelson and Nathan Simons teamed up to take the title in 3:21.59.
"When it's the final race of every competition, it's generally a situation where every team is exhausted, and it comes down to who is willing to dig the deepest," said Ewing. "Nathan Simons ran a super-tough anchor leg to edge out Iowa Central."
The NJCAA Indoor Nationals are Friday and Saturday, March 5-6 at Pittsburg, Kansas.
WARRIOR RESULTS:
Aurel Tchanbi: 60m (1st 6.79 prelim, 6.80 finals), 200m (1st, 21.92)
Kalen Walker: 200 (2nd, 22.15, qualified for nationals), 60 (6th, 6.90)
Ashton Sanders: 200 (3rd, 22.14)
Damoy Allen: 60 (2nd 6.79 prelims, 6.82 finals)
Justin Walden: 60 (4th, 6.85)
Nathan Simons: 400m (4th, 49.74)
Zack Nelson: 400m (6th, 50.69)
Jackson Burnett: 1000m (1st, 2:30.19)
Justin Swann: 600m (3rd, 1:22.80)
Jerry Harper: 600m (7th, 1:26.86)
Nick O'Connor: Mile (5th, 4:34.51)
Ethan Mesenbrink: 5k (5th, 16:24.19)
Chris Hudnall: 60h (4th, 8.34)
Rylan Seberg: long jump (8th, 6.49m)
Robin Meredith: triple jump (4th, 13.33m)
4x4: Walden-Sanders-Nelson-Simons (1st, 3:21.59)
DMR: Burnett-Harper-Bar-Shimon-O'Connor (1st, 10:25.63)
TEAM STANDINGS:
- Iowa Central 185
- Iowa Western 115
- Indian Hills 98
- Hawkeye 41
- NIACC 32
- Southwestern 5
- Southeastern 3
Full Results: https://www.tfrrs.org/results/67633/Region_XI_Championships/