Council Bluffs, IA – The No. 4 nationally ranked Indian Hills Men's Track & Field squad took home a runner-up finish at the 2024 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 11 DI Outdoor Track & Field Championship over the weekend.
As a program, the Warriors secured six individual Region championships to go along with a relay title as the Warriors edged Iowa Central Community College 161-158 to place second overall.
Indian Hills placed six individuals on the top of the podium, including two individual titles for sophomore sprinter Traunard Folson (Jacksonville, FL/Andrew Jackson). Folson tied the NJCAA Region 11 Championship record with a blistering time of 10.18 seconds. The sophomore followed up with a title in the 200-meter dash, shattering the previous NJCAA Region 11 Championship record. Folson's time of 20.29 is the seventh-fastest time in NJCAA history while his 100m mark ranks 10th fastest in NJCAA history.
Folson has now won back-to-back NJCAA Region 11 Outdoor 100m championships after winning the event last year. Folson's 2024 mark proved to be 0.31 seconds ahead of last year's time.
The Warriors swept the sprint events as sophomore Chris Johnson (Houston, TX/Cypress Park) ran away with the 400-meter dash with a time of 46.97, nearly topping his previous personal best mark. After finishing as a runner-up in last year's outdoor 400m dash and this year's indoor 400m dash, Johnson won the event by 0.31 seconds for his third-career Region title, and first individual championship.
Tyrice Taylor (Linstead, Jamaica/Vere Technical) continued to dominate the 800-meter run for the Warriors as the defending outdoor national champion set a new NJCAA Region 11 Championship record with a time of 1:48.98, winning by nearly three seconds. Taylor has now won three Region championships throughout his career, including two individual championships.
Along with Taylor's effort in the 800m, the Warriors took home four of the top five spots in the event. Taylor was followed by teammates Cole Reinders (Sarnia, Ontario/St. Patrick's Catholic) and Tray'Quan Francis (New Iberia, LA/Westgate) to earn the top three podium spots. Mohammed Al-Yafaee (Doha, Qatar/Aspire Academy) placed fifth overall for the Warriors.
Tate Joens (Cedar Rapids, IA/Cedar Rapids Prairie), the NJCAA Region 11 Indoor Field Athlete of the Year, left his mark on the outdoor Region championships. The freshman took home the Region title in the hammer throw by extending his national-leading mark with a distance of 58.72 meters, a new Region record. Joens also placed second overall in the discus with a mark of 49.23 while placing third overall in the shot put.
Joens was joined by teammates Ryan Edelman (Mounds View, MN/Mounds View) who placed fourth overall in the hammer throw and Michael Etuma (Iowa City, IA/Iowa City) who took fourth in the discus.
Coming off a Drake Relays championship, Anthony Ward (Madison, WI/Madison Memorial) continued an unprecedented run in the triple jump. Ward took home the individual title in the event with a mark of 14.97, tying his personal best distance which currently ranks sixth in the nation. Ward followed up with a second-place finish in the men's long jump with a mark of 7.26, a new Indian Hills school record and a top-20 national distance.
The men's 4x400-meter relay quarter of Cyrus Ways (Ponte Vedra, FL/Nease), Taylor, Terrick Johnson (Memphis, TN/Whitehaven), and Chris Johnson dominated the event, winning by nearly seven seconds with aseason-best time of 3:13.72. As a program, the Warriors have now won eight consecutive NJCAA Region 11 4x400-meter relay championships between the indoor and outdoor seasons dating back to 2021.
Ways took home a second-place finish in the men's 110-meter hurdle with a time of 14.28, the freshman's second-fastest time of the year. Shuanlarry Lamarre (Brentwood, NY/Brentwood) placed fifth overall in the event for the Warriors.
In the 400-meter hurdles, Anthony Duncan (Keosauqua, IA/Van Buren) earned a podium spot with a third-place finish. Duncan posted his second-fastest time of the year with a mark of 54.91.
The Warriors will now prepare for the upcoming NJCAA DI Outdoor Track & Field Championships in West Monroe, LA May 16-18.
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