IHCC SPRINTS TO RUNNER-UP FINISH AT EMPORIA

Posted: Mar 30, 2021

EMPORIA, KS – The Indian Hills Men's Track & Field program began the outdoor portion of its schedule with a splash this past weekend at the Emporia State Relays in Emporia, Kansas, finishing in second place behind several strong efforts in the sprint events.

The Warriors outdistanced nine NCAA Division II programs and were only topped by ICCAC rival Iowa Central in the team standings.

The strength of the Indian Hills sprint events led to six men meeting the NJCAA qualifying standard for the National Championships in May while four new school records were set. Eighteen Warrior runners earned IHCC top-five all-time performances with their efforts at Welch Stadium.

IHCC Head Coach Brent Ewing was not surprised by his team's effort.

"Our short sprinters really put on a show," Ewing said. "This wasn't a shock to me based on the intensity they had been bringing to practice after the indoor national meet. They were hungry and excited to show their fitness."

Ewing was particularly impressed by the Warrior 4x100 relay team of Justin Walden, Damoy Allen, Isiah Thomas and Aurel Tchambi.

"The 4x100 relay was hands down the performance of the meet. I knew the relay was ready to run fast but I just didn't know what to expect our first time running the relay," Ewing added. "What shocked me the most was that we finished a full second ahead of second place. A 40.12 second clocking is extremely fast, especially winning by that margin in 50 degree weather. The temperature wasn't the most conducive for sprinting. I believe that relay can contend for a national title come May. They are currently sitting first in the nation by .30 seconds. They will likely need to run at least 39.50 to be in the national title conversation."

Not surprisingly, several members of that relay, also made their presence known in individual events on Witten Track over the weekend, led by Allen who qualified for the national meet in the 100 and 200 meter dashes.

"Damoy Allen proved he belongs in the conversation as one of the best sprinters in junior college," Ewing explained. "After the weekend, he ranks No. 3 this outdoor season in the 200 meters, and No. 10 in the 100 meters. His improvement has been nothing short of incredible. His personal bests in high school were 10.79 and 21.76 seconds. He demolished both of those in his first outdoor meet and now sits second in program history behind Kenny Bednarek in the 100 and 200 all-time list."

Tchanbi will join Allen in the 200 meter event at nationals after a 21.26 second effort.

"Aurel picked up right where he left off indoors. He currently has the eighth fastest 200 meter in the nation this outdoor season," Ewing added.

Yet another 4x100 team member shined individually as Thomas ran a personal best in the 100 meters, shaving nearly a half second off his previous best mark.

"Isiah was another guy who really stood out," Ewing said. "He showed a lot of maturity during indoor season. He had a very hot start before getting sick midway through the season. He lost a lot of strength which really took a toll on his sprinting. I was so happy to see him bounce back in his first meet outdoors. He's another guy who has improved drastically. His previous best was 10.97 in the 100. He ran 10.55 this weekend, third all-time in IHCC history."

Freshman Trystan Beckett was another Warrior sprinter who knocked a full half second off his previous best in the 200 meters as the Pennsylvania product was clocked at 21.94.

Not to be outdone, the IHCC distance runners had some notable performances as well, led by Ethan Mesenbrink and Nick O'Connor.

"Ethan ran a 21 second personal best in the 5k race (15:42.64), and Nick broke the school record in the steeplechase (9:54.00) in his first time running the event," said Ewing.

Despite all the Warrior success in the short sprints and long distance races, the IHCC headman pointed to the quarter-mile and middle distance events as areas that need to step up.

"As great as we were in some areas, we still have a lot of room for improvement," Ewing added. "I was hoping for some better performances from our long sprints and middle distance runners. There's a learning curve to running the 400 meters outdoors, and I think that played a role in our marks. That's definitely a point of emphasis for us coaches and our athletes moving forward. All of those individuals ran personal bests in the 200, so that tells me they're fit. We just need to do a better job of executing. Our middle distance guys were a little too cautious early on. We're working on getting them to be more aggressive the first half of the race."

Indian Hills will be back on the track this weekend as the Warriors head back to Kansas, this time traveling to Newtown to take part in Saturday's Loren Reusser Invite, hosted by Bethel College.

Men Team Standings
Iowa Central               104
Indian Hills                96
Missouri Southern     85
Pittsburg St.                83
Emporia State            82
Lincoln                        64
Iowa Western             58.50
Nebraska-Kearney     47
Fort Scott                    40
Midland                      28
Washburn                  27.50
Central Missouri        25
NW Missouri              15
Drury                          9

NJCAA National qualifiers

Nick O'Connor, steeplechase

Damoy Allen, 100m & 200m

Aurel Tchanbi, 200m

Jackson Burnett, 1500m

Men's 4x100 - Justin Walden, Damoy Allen, Isiah Thomas, Aurel Tchanbi

School records

Men's 800m - Justin Swann, 1:54.77

Men's 4x100 – Walden, Allen, Thomas, Tchanbi, 40.12

Men's 1500 - Jackson Burnett, 3:58.39

Steeplechase - Nick O'Connor, 9:54.00

Other notable performances