February 27, 2009

Cowley relay team hits qualifying mark at Tiger Last Chance meet

With a select few team members competing either as a tune-up for nationals or as a last stab at hitting a qualifying mark, the Cowley College men’s 4x400-meter relay team took advantage of the opportunity as they hit the national qualifying mark during Thursday’s Tiger Last Chance Indoor/Outdoor Qualifier held in Arkansas City.

The relay team had a couple of athletes fill in for others that were supposed to run but could not due to illness. Rolando Vasquez and Kameron Conely stepped in to run with Justin Viewins and Travis James.
“We wanted to get qualified in the event, we had a couple of guys fill in and still managed to qualify,” Cowley head coach Mark Phillips said.

Willy Lucero and Katie Gillmore also performed well in their final competition before nationals as they each cleared qualifying marks in the pole vault. Gillmore has exceeded the national qualifying mark in the pole vault in every meet she has competed in this year.

Only six other Tiger athletes competed at the meet as the majority of the squad had already hit national qualifying marks.

“We qualified pretty much everything we needed to qualify, this was just kind of a tune-up meet for our kids before heading to nationals,” Phillips said.

The NJCAA National Indoor will be held March 6-7 in Lubbock, Texas.


Cowley results:
MEN

• 60-meter dash — Tobiah Rocker, 7.19, seventh.
  
• 200-meter dash — Rocker, 23.45, 10th; Travis James, 23.64, 11th.
  
• 4x400-meter relay — Cowley (Justin Viewins, Travis James, Rolando Vasquez, and Kameron Conely), 3.22.85, third, national qualifier.
  
• Pole vault — Willy Lucero, 14-0, first, national qualifier.
  
• Long jump — Rocker, 21-7, second; Brad Potucek, 21-4 ½, third.
  
• Weight throw — Kevin Voth, 45-0 ½, fifth; Mason Putman, 42-6 ¼, eighth.

WOMEN

• Pole vault — Katie Gillmore, 11-2 ½, first, national qualifier.