Men's Track & Field

WARRIORS SHINE AT IOWA STATE HOLIDAY INVITE

WARRIORS SHINE AT IOWA STATE HOLIDAY INVITE
Posted: Dec 13, 2021

Ames, IA – The Indian Hills Men's Track & Field team traveled to Ames, IA on Saturday and put together an impressive performance at the Iowa State Holiday Invitational. The Warriors came home with nine national qualifying marks and a school record.

"This was one of the best indoor meets our program has ever had, and we did it with roughly half our squad" stated head coach Brent Ewing. "There wasn't a single person who wasn't ready to compete. The energy that they brought was contagious and one great performance seemed to follow another."

Kendrick Winfield (Louisville, KY/Louisville Male) stood out in two separate events to qualify for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championship in each. Winfield dashed to a first-place finish in the men's 200-meter with a time of 21.45 as the Warriors took home the top six spots in the event. Isiah Thomas (Milwaukee, WI/Destiny) placed second with a personal best time of 21.68 and Justin Walden (Miami, FL/North Miami) finished third with a personal best time of 21.73. All three marks eclipsed the national qualifying standard.

"The men's 200-meter really stood out to me," Ewing noted. "That is a pretty tough event to qualify for nationals and we had three individuals do it in the same race."

Winfield placed second overall in the men's 400-meter dash as well to qualify for the national championship with a time of 48.11.

"I'm especially proud of Kendrick," Ewing added. "Kendrick will admit, he had one of his worst races last weekend and we both expected more. He showed tremendous fortitude to bounce back in the fashion that he did and qualify for nationals in two events. That's a great learning opportunity for our entire team – one previous meet doesn't have to define you."

Along with Walden and Thomas' efforts in the 200-meter dash, both Warriors provided personal best times in the men's 60-meter dash with times of 6.81 and  6.84 to finish second and third, respectively. "Isiah and Justin are two of the hardest working guys on our team – they are leaders that set the tone in practice and bring positive energy every day. They're going to have incredible seasons this year."

The two Warriors finished behind teammate Travon Chance (San Antonio, TX/Warren) in the 60-meter dash who clocked a personal best time of 6.76 to place first. Chance's time was the fourth fastest mark in program history after dropping 0.27 off of his previous personal best. "Travon had one of the biggest drops in time I have ever seen," Ewing exclaimed. "Travon came into this year much more prepared and he is seeing all of his hard work during the summer and fall pay off."

Three separate Warriors hit national qualifying marks in the men's 800-meter run, including Rivaldo Marshall's (Kingston, Jamaica/Calabar) school record time of 1:52.41. Aniey Akok (Ames, IA/Ames) finished just behind Marshall in the event with a personal best time of 1:53.71. Jerry Harper's (Rantoul, IL/Rantoul) 1:56.04 was also a personal best in the event. "We have a handful of guys in our middle distance group who I believe will be some of the best in the nation," Ewing said. "The middle distance training group has been putting in a large body of work over the past several months. They are prepared to have some monster performances come January."

After two impressive showings to open up the indoor season, the Warriors welcome the holiday break and will return to action Jan. 14-15 at the University of Iowa.