Ottumwa, IA – The Indian Hills Men's Track & Field Distance Medley Relay squad swept a pair of weekly honors on Tuesday afternoon, collecting both the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) and Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) Athlete of the Week honors.
On the heels of a historic performance, the relay squad of Cole Reinders (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Patrick's Catholic), Chris Johnson (Houston, TX/Cypress Park), Terrick Johnson (Memphis, TN/Whitehaven), and Keveroy Venson (Linstead, Jamaica/Calabar) garnered both national and conference accolades on Tuesday. The quartet were honored following a record-breaking effort at the 9th Annual Gorilla Classic where the relay squad set the all-time, all-conditions National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) DMR record with a time of 9:43.60.
The Warriors broke the previous record by nearly three seconds at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, KS on Friday afternoon to etch their name atop the record books. In the 87-year history of NJCAA Track & Field, only five programs have eclipsed 9:50.00 in the 4,000-meter event.
Reinders kickstarted the squad's performance with an opening leg of 2:59 before Chris Johnson ran the second leg in 46.7 seconds. Terrick Johnson, the reigning Hy-Vee Indian Hills Male Student-Athlete of the Month, put together an 800-meter third leg with a time of 1:49.9 while Venson closed out the historic race with a 1,600-meter final leg time of 4:07.
As a team, the Warrior men have now collected four ICCAC honors throughout the indoor season and three national USTFCCCA awards on the year.
The Warriors will now turn their attention to the upcoming NJCAA Region 11 Indoor Championship this weekend in Storm Lake, IA. The two-day event gets underway on Friday from Buena Vista University.
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