Cowley women 8th, men 11th at national meet

Being named the Female Field Event Athlete of the Meet for the second consecutive year at the NJCAA National Outdoor Championships in Levelland, Texas, Cowley College sophomore Kelsey Poljansek (pictured) helped lead the Lady Tiger track and field team to an eighth place national finish.

Poljansek was the national champion in the shot put for the second straight year and also finished as the national runner-up in the discus and hammer throw. She missed being the national champion in the discus by two centimeters, and won the shot put on her final throw.

“What can you say about Kelsey, she has left an incredible mark on our program,” Cowley head coach Mark Phillips said.

The Lady Tigers finished just one half point behind seventh place Mesa Community College, and only one point behind sixth place Southwest Mississippi.

“We are always happy when we are a top-10 team,” Phillips said. “They gave the best effort they could.”

Sophomore Adam Wolkins (pictured) also repeated as the national champion in the men’s javelin as he helped the Tiger men place 11th nationally. All but two of Wolkins’ six throws at the natonal meet surpassed his previous personal record prior to the regional and national competition. His school-record throw of 232-feet-5 inches was more than 16 feet further than runner-up Tyler Drake of Hutchinson.

“You don’t get to be around too many javelin throwers like that,” Phillips said. “His performance at nationals was pretty incredible.”

The Cowley men finished just one and a half points out of 10th place.
“We always want to be a top-10 team, but I am not disappointed because the effort was there,” Phillips said. “This was probably one of the toughest national meets I have been a part of.”

Jonathan Cherono also earned All-American honors for the men’s team as he placed second in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. Cherono, who ran in his final track meet for the Tigers, will return to Cowley for one more season with the cross country team. He won three All-American awards in his two years with the track team.

“Jonathan had a wonderful meet and a great track season,” Phillips said.

Cherono’s sister, Jeniffer, and fellow sophomore Ashley Cronin, earned All-American honors by placing second and third in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, respectively. The All-American honors were the third for Cherono and the second for Cronin.

“Jeniffer ran a great race and caps a wonderful career here,” Phillips said. “For Ashley to grab a couple of All-American awards among all of those Kenyan runners is remarkable.”

Willy Lucero and Jordan Pote placed fourth and sixth in the pole vault, respectively. David Starnes, the national champion in the indoor pole vault, no heighted in the event.

“I really feel bad for David because he was the class of the field,” Phillips said. “He did some great things for us, the bar just didn’t stay up.”

The Lady Tigers’ 4 x800 meter relay team of Brianna Byers, Jessica McLeod, Janee’ Gabbard, and Bethany Schmidt ran a strong race as they placed eighth and earned points for the squad.

Cowley results:
WOMEN
•5,000-meter run — Ashley Cronin, 19:19.33, 12th; Christy Buller, 21:55.83, 23rd.
•3,000-meter steeplechase — Jennifer Cherono, 11:31.86, second;, NJCAA All-American; Ashley Cronin, 11:51.89, third, NJCAA All-American.
•4x800-meter relay — Brianna Byers, Bethany Schmidt, Jessica McLeod, Janee’ Gabbard, 10:04.92, eighth.
•Triple jump — Sasha Oliver, 35-10 ¾, 14th.
•Shot put — Kelsey Poljansek, 46-8, national champion, NJCAA All-American.
•Discus — Kelsey Poljansek, 157-3, second, NJCAA All-American.
•Hammer — Kelsey Poljansek, 154-4, second, NJCAA All-American.

MEN
•1,500-meter run — Nate Newland, 4:20.68, 11th.
•5,000-meter run — Johnny Purvis, 15:52.11, 16th; Brett Koehn, 16:12.94, 22nd; Justin Cacaro, 16:19.81, 23rd.
•10,000-meter run — Jonathan Cherono, 33:19.68, fourth; Brett Koehn, 32:30.04, 17th.
•3,000-meter steeplechase — Cherono, 9:17.87, second, NJCAA All-American; Mauricio Morales, 9:55.90, 10th.
•4x800-meter relay — Harrison Philp, Larry Hill, Dakota Price, Matt Silovsky, 8:10.88, 11th.
•Pole vault — Willy Lucero, 15-4 ½, fourth; Jordan Pote, 14-10 ¾, sixth.
•Javelin — Adam Wolkins, 232-5, national champion, NJCAA All-American.

Team Scores:
WOMEN
(1)Central Arizona, 131; (2) South Plains, 124; (3) Rend Lake, 93 ½; (4) Butler, 87; (5) Barton County, 84; (6) Southwest Mississippi, 42; (7) Mesa, 41 ½; (8) Cowley, 41; (9) Bevill State, 30; (10) Paradise Valley, 22; (11) North Iowa Area CC, 20; (12) Pima, 19; (13) Kansas City, 17; (14) Essex, 16; (15) Iowa Central, 15 ½; (16tie) New Mexico JC, 15; (16tie) Cloud County, 15; (18) Macomb, 11 ½; (19) Coffeyville, 8; (20tie) Harcum, 4; (20tie) Colby, 4; (22tie) Florissant Valley, 3; (22tie) Neosho County, 3; (22tie) Glendale, 3; (25tie) Lansing, 2; (25tie) Allen County, 2; (27) Scottsdale, 1.

MEN
(1) South Plains, 135; (2) Central Arizona, 119; (3) Rend Lake, 70; (4) Butler, 57; (5) Barton, 52 ½; (6) Hutchinson, 48 ½; (7) Johnson County, 47; (8) Hinds, 39; (9) Cloud County, 35; (10) Neosho County, 32 ½; (11tie) Cowley, 31; (11tie) Iowa Central, 31; (13) Vincennes, 19; (14) Southwest Christian, 18; (15) Pima, 17; (16) Iowa Western, 16; (17) Southwest Mississippi, 14; (18) Paradise Valley, 12; (19tie) Mesa, 10; (19tie) Essex, 10; (19tie) Wallace State, 10; (22) Coffeyville, 6; (23) Fort Scott, 5; (24) Glendale, 4 ½; (25tie) North Iowa Area CC, 3; (25tie) Macomb, 3; (27tie) Scottsdale, 2; (27tie) Chattahoochee Tech, 2; (29) Allen County, 1.