MARYVILLE, MO – Third time is a charm.
In so many ways.
For the third straight weekend, the Indian Hills men's track team made its way to the Hughes Fieldhouse on the campus of Northwest Missouri State, this time for the Herschel Neil Invite. And for the third-straight time, the highly-regarded Warriors set slew of impressive marks before leaving town.
Sophomore Jackson Burnett continues his onslaught on the Indian Hills record books as the Paterson, New Jersey native set this third school record in as many weeks. This time, Burnett torched the track in the 1000m event, clocking in at 2:26.66, which now gives Burnett the all-time IHCC indoor marks in the 800-meter, 1000 meter and mile events. Additionally, Burnett's times in those three events have him leading the NJCAA nationwide in each race, respectively.
"Jackson has really set himself apart from the rest of the middle distance runners in the country," said IHCC Head Coach Brent Ewing. "That time Jackson put down on a 300-meter track in the 1,000-meter event is fifth best all time in NJCAA history."
Freshman sprinter Damoy Allen came off an injury and promptly announced his presence to the field at Saturday's event, qualifying for nationals in both events he ran. Allen blistered the track in the 60 meter, finishing with a 6.77 to take first place, and then followed up with nation-leading 21.70 clocking in the 200-meter dash. Allen's NJCAA lead in the 200 was short-lived; however, as teammate Aurel Tchanbi took the title in the 200 just minutes later, and reset the national lead with a time of 21.65. Tchanbi's effort leaves Allen with current NJCAA positions of No. 3 in the 60-meter and No. 2 in the 200-meter event.
"That's one incredible effort from Damoy to do that in his first event out after recovering from an injury," Ewing added. "And if he's going lose out on the top spot in the nation in the 200, we're not terribly disappointed that it's the result of a teammate's performance."
After an all-American season in cross country last fall, IHCC's Nick O'Connor showed what he could do inside on a track this weekend as he ran the third fastest 3,000-meter race in program history with a 9:10.17, which was good enough for 13th place.
Ewing also noted the steady improvement of freshman sprinter Justin Walden. The Miami, Florida native has ran seven races this year and set a person best in every single race. Walden took fifth-place in the 60 meter (6.91) and took seventh in the 200 meter (21.93).
"Justin's progress has been exceptional," Ewing said. "That kind of improvement, that many times consecutively is unheard of."
Sophomore Micha Reed continued his improvement in his second season as a Warrior as he put up the second-fastest 800-meter clocking (1:54.63) in school history on Saturday. Reed's time garnered him third place in the event, but was the fastest time among two-year schools at the meet.
Reed joins Burnett and freshman Justin Swann to give the Warrior program three of the top four indoor times in the half-mile in all of the NJCAA.
On the field event side of things, Ewing noted that triple-jump specialists, Rob Meredith and J.C. Ramirez vaulted themselves to second and third place in school history with their marks on Saturday. Meredith's 44' 11.75" netted him 2nd place at the meet, while Ramirez's leap of 44' 3.25" was good enough for third.
"Our guys continue to show their depth. Each weekend different individuals have stepped up and had break out performances. It's been very rewarding to watch our men's team grow into one of the best programs in the nation," Ewing concluded.
The NJCAA No. 2-rated Warriors were scheduled to compete this weekend at the Central Missouri's Mule Relays in Warrensburg, Missouri, but the event has been canceled due to COVID concerns. IHCC will begin preparing for the Triton Kansas Challenge, which is hosted by Iowa Central, but will be staged at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas on Sunday, February 14.
National qualifiers:
- Damoy Allen 60m
- Damoy Allen 200m
- Jackson Burnett 1000m
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- Currently leads the nation in the 1k, second in the 800 and mile
School records
- Jackson Burnett 1000m
IHCC Top 5 All-Time performances (10)
- Allen 60, 200
- Burnett 1k
- Tchanbi 200
- Reed 800
- O'Connor 3k
- Meredith TJ
- Ramirez TJ