Storm Lake, IA – The Indian Hills Men's Track & Field team continued to set new benchmarks throughout the 2023-24 indoor campaign as the Warriors placed second overall at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 11 Indoor Championship, the best finish in program history.

Highlighted by seven individual Region titles, including five on the final day of competition, the Warriors scored 184 team points to place second behind top-finisher Iowa Western Community College. The seven individual titles are the most in a single Region championship in program history, topping the 2022 program's six titles.

Friday night saw the Warriors open up postseason action in impressive fashion with two individuals – Tate Joens (Cedar Rapids, IA/Cedar Rapids Prairie) with a national-leading mark to capture the weight throw and Troy Johnson's (Lancaster, PA/J.P. McCaskey) long jump championship.

READ MORE: JOENS, JOHNSON CAPTURE INDIVUDAL TITLES

Indian Hills stayed within contention throughout the duration of the day on Saturday as the Warriors saw Region titles from Keveroy Venson (Linstead, Jamaica/Calabar), Brandon Ford (Perth, Australia/Duncraig), Terrick Johnson (Memphis, TN/Whitehaven), Triston Miller (Columbus Junction, IA/Columbus Junction), and the men's 4x400-meter relay squad.

Terrick Johnson made headlines on Saturday with a meet record performance in the 600-meter run. Johnson ran the third-fastest time in program history to take the Region title in a time of 1:19.85. Johnson's performance broke a nine-year old meet record to score 10 team points for the Warriors. Indian Hills has now captured four of the previous six 600m titles, including back-to-back championships now.

Venson became the second consecutive individual to win the 1,000-meter Region championship for the Warriors, joining former national champion Rivaldo Marshall, and became just the third individual in school history to take the top podium spot in the event. Venson ran to a time of 2:28.16, edging Iowa Central Community College's Housem Hrabi by 0.09 for the title.

Ford became the program's first-ever 3,000-meter Region champion as the freshman continued an unprecedented rookie campaign. Ford took the event with ease, winning by more than 10 seconds with a mark of 8:40.42 for the Warriors.

Miller became the program's first-ever 60-meter hurdles champion after dominating the event with a time of 7.93, nearly breaking his own school record. As a team, the Warriors took the top two podium spots as Cyrus Ways (Ponte Vedra, FL/Nease) checked in with a time of 8.05 to take second overall in the event. Miller, the school record holder in the heptathlon, also took second overall in the men's long jump with a distance of 2.05 meters on Saturday.

The Warriors' dominance in the 4x400-meter relay event continued with the program's fifth consecutive Region championship. Terrick Johnson, Chris Johnson (Houston, TX/Cypress Park), Jah'vauni Wheeler (Atlanta, GA/Heritage) and Ways ran away from the field with a meet and facility record mark of 3:15.83. The quartet captured the title by more than six seconds to win the title. Chris Johnson was now captured back-to-back 400m relay championships for the Warriors.

The Warriors also saw a number of impressive individual performances that scored team points on Saturday. Cole Reinders (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Patrick's Catholic) took second overall in the men's 800-meter run with a time of 1:54.97 while Chris Johnson closed out a tight 400-meter dash with a second-place showing.

Anthony Ward (Madison, WI/Madison Memorial) jumped to a mark of 14.54 in the men's triple jump to take silver while Troy Johnson placed fourth overall in the event.

Traunard Folson (Jacksonville, FL/Andrew Jackson) finished second overall in the men's 60-meter dash with a time of 6.64, tying the previous meet record. Stephen Brown (Pontiac, MI/Lake Orion) also scored in the event with a time of 6.86.

Along with Joens' impressive showing on Friday night, the freshman also took third in the men's shot put with a school record throw of 16.62 meters, the seventh-best mark in the nation this year.

Indian Hills will now turn their attention to the upcoming NJCAA Indoor National Championship in Gainesville, FL March 1-2.

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