Men's Track & Field

WARRIORS WIN THREE TITLES, PLACE 3RD

WARRIORS WIN THREE TITLES, PLACE 3RD
Posted: Feb 18, 2023

Storm Lake, IA --- Three champions led the Indian Hills Men's Track & Field squad to a third-place finish at the 2023 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XI Indoor Track & Field Championship on Saturday at Buena Vista University.

The Warriors were led by three region champions in Rivaldo Marshall (Kingston, Jamaica/Calabar), Tyrice Taylor (Linstead, Jamaica/Linstead) and the men's 4x400-meter relay squad. Marshall took home top honors in the men's 1000-meter event with a record-breaking performance while Taylor earned the 600-meter region title.

In total, the Warriors took home 11 top-three performances to score 117 team points and place third overall for the fifth consecutive year at the region championship. Iowa Central Community College took home first-place followed by Iowa Western Community College.

Marshall, the 2022 outdoor national champion and the defending indoor 800-meter run region champion put together a remarkable performance in the men's 1,000m event to take top honors. Marshall, who owns the fourth-fastest 1,000m time in NJCAA history, set a new facility and meet record with a time of 2:25.93. Marshall finished 1.50 seconds ahead of his second-place competitor.

Taylor's breakout freshman season for the Warriors continued on Saturday with the 600-meter title. Taylor posted a NJCAA national qualifying mark of 1:20.58 to place 0.80 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher to take the top spot at the region championship.

Taylor becomes the second 600m region champ in school history, joining Elijah Berry in 2020. Taylor's time ranks second all-time at the NJCAA Region XI championship and is the fastest time since the 2015 championship meet.

The men's 4x400-meter relay squad continued to dominate the region championship as the Warriors took the title for the third consecutive year. The Warrior quartet, comprised of Chris Johnson ( (Houston, TX/Cypress Park)), Ke'Vontae Walls-Burdine (Milwaukee, WI/Milwaukee Lutheran), Kylen Crosby (Alpharetta, GA/Alpharetta), and Woyn Chatman (Little Rock, AR/Little Rock Central) sprinted to a record-breaking time of 3:16.23. The mark broke a 10-year old meet record and an eight-year old facility record.

CJ McFerrin (Alpharetta, GA/Alpharetta) and Damien Lewis (College Station, TX/Brenham) stood out in the men's 60-meter hurdles for the Warriors. The tandem placed second and third overall in the finals, the first time Indian Hills has placed two individuals in the top-three at the region championship in the event. McFerrin posted a finals mark of 8.26 while Lewis clocked in at 8.38 after a persona best 8.31 in the prelims.

The Warrior dominance in the middle-distance events continued in the 800-meter run as freshman Cole Reinders (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Patrick's Catholic) placed second overall in the event. Reinders' time of 1:55.22 is the fastest time by an Indian Hills athlete at the region championship in the 800m, surpassing Marshall's time from a year ago. Reinders' runner-up finish was second only to Iowa Central's Yared Kidane who set a new meet record with a time of 1:53.29.

Chatman placed second overall in the men's 400-meter dash, tying the second-best finish all-time for a Warrior at the region championship in the event. Chatman joins Justin Walden from a year ago and the meet record holder Kenny Bednarek  from 2019. Chatman's time of 48.29 is the second-fastest at the region championship, trailing only Bednarek.

Johnson finished third overall in the 400m with a time of 48.60, the third-fastest time in the event at the region championship for the Warriors.

Sophomore D'Eric Smith (Bridgeton, NJ/Ankeny Centennial) posted a third place overall finish in the men's 200-meter dash with a time of 22.28. Smith also posted a fourth-place finish in the men's 60-meter dash with a time of 6.84. Traunard Folson (Jacksonville, FL/Andrew Jackson) placed fifth overall in the 60m and Nehemiah Ray (Chicago, IL/Brother Rice) placed sixth for the Warriors.

Troy Johnson (Lancaster, PA/J.P. McCaskey) led the Warrior jumpers in both the long jump and the triple jump. Johnson placed third overall in the long jump with a mark of 7.15 meters. Johnson's distance is the best all-time mark at the region championship, surpassing alum Tyler Pouncy's first-place finish with a mark of 7.05 in 2019.

Johnson also scored four team points for the Warriors in the triply jump with a sixth place finish and a mark of 13.79 meters.

Along with the contribution to the men's 4x400 relay squad, Crosby produced strong a strong individual efforts. Crosby finished fourth overall in the men's 600m event with a time of 1:23.90 to score five team points for the Warriors.

Freshman Mohammed Al-Yafaee (Doha, Qatar/Aspire Academy) joined Marshall in the men's 1,000m in breaking the facility record as the freshman placed third overall with a time of 2:28.32.

Freshman Logan Soedt (Eldridge, IA/North Scott) led the long-distance events for the Warriors, scoring team points in both the 5,000-meter and the 3,000-meter runs. Soedt placed 10th overall in the 5,000m with a time of 16:53.98 and 11th overall in the 3,000m with a time of 9:32.12.

The Warriors will now focus on the upcoming NJCAA Indoor Track & Field National Championship March 3-4 in Topeka, KS at the Washburn University Indoor Facility.