February 23, 2010

Tiger men win fourth straight indoor conference title

Led by eight individual conference champions and seven region champions, the Cowley College men’s track and field team captured its fourth straight Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division indoor title at the Jayhawk Conference/Region VI meet held over the weekend in Manhattan.

“Our goal is always to win the conference title and keep the streak going,” said Cowley head coach Mark Phillips, who was named the Region VI Men’s and Women’s Indoor Coach of the Year. “We just kind of ran out of real estate in trying to catch Barton County in the region.”

Cowley finished 36.5 points (197.5-161) better than second place Coffeyville in the conference, and placed second in the region to perennial power Barton County.

Tiger sophomore Dustin Mettler was named the Region VI Male Track Athlete of the Meet as he was the conference and region champion in the 3,000-meter run (8:49.14) and 5,000-meter run (15:19.40).
“He had a great weekend and really stepped up for us,” Phillips said.

Jory Custar (pictured) was the conference and region champion in the 800-meter run (1:57.13) and teamed with T.J. Mapp, Dane Dewitt, and David Phillips to help the Tigers’ 4x800-meter relay team (7:54.89) finish as conference and region champions by less than a second over second place Coffeyville.

Phillips thought the performance by the 4x800-meter relay team along with sophomore Brice Irving taking home the conference and region crown in the mile run with a time of 4:21.30, were huge for the squad.
“Those were two incredible performances that really got us going,” Phillips said.

Mapp also was the conference champion in the 1,000-meter run (2:35.95), while Mac Griffith captured the conference title in the heptathlon (4,601 points) and was only 15 points away from winning the region title. Griffith’s mark of 6-feet-6 ¾ inches in the high jump portion of the heptathlon was a school record.

Freshman Michael McLeod was one of the bigger surprises of the meet as he won both the conference and region titles by clearing 14-7 ¼ in the pole vault. McLeod nearly no heighted in the pole vault as he was down to his third attempt before clearing the opening bar. He then made the next two bars on his first attempt en route to winning the conference and region titles.

“I did not imagine him toughing it out and winning the region,” Phillips said. “It is not easy for a freshman vaulter to do that at a region meet.”

The Tiger Last Chance home meet on Thursday has been cancelled due to the threat of inclement weather. Thus, the Tigers’ national qualifiers will prepare to compete at the NJCAA National Indoor March 5-6 in Charleston, IL.

“I feel good about where we are at with the guys we have going to nationals,” Phillips said.

Jayhawk East team scores: (1) Cowley, 197.5; (2) Coffeyville, 161; (3) Johnson County, 128.5; (4tie) Allen County, 93; (4tie) Neosho County, 93; (6) Highland, 58.3; (7) Kansas City, 14.3; (8) Fort Scott, 4.3.

Region VI team scores: (1) Barton County, 153; (2) Cowley, 123; (3) Cloud County, 88; (4) Coffeyville, 80; (5) Butler, 66; (6) Allen County, 60; (7) Johnson County, 55; (8) Hutchinson, 52; (9) Neosho County, 34; (10) Highland, 32; (11) Colby, 29; (12) Kansas City, 6; (13) Pratt, 1.

Results:

• 60-meter dash — Tobiah Rocker, 7.25, 16th in conference and 23rd in region; Tyler Patterson, 7.44, 20th in conference and 30th in region.
  
• 200-meter dash — Adrian Porter, 23.11, seventh in conference and 15th in region; Rocker, 23.81, 15th in conference and 20th in region; Patterson, 23.26, 28th in conference.
  
• 400-meter dash — Porter, 52.34, seventh; 14th in region; Patterson, 52.23, 14th in conference and 19th in region; Rick Valcin, 54.15, 15th in conference and 21st in region.
  
• 600-meter run — Dylan Filburn, 1:25.40, third in conference and seventh in region; Terrell Beard, 1:25.64, fourth in conference and 10th in region; Brandon Sparks, 1:26.71, fifth in conference and 15th in region.
  
• 800-meter run — Jory Custar, 1:57.13, conference and region champion; Dane Dewitt, 2:00.75, fifth in conference and sixth in region; Thomas Kjerengtroen, 2:04.32, seventh in conference and 11th in region.
  
• 1,000-meter run — T.J. Mapp, 2:35.95, conference champion and third in region; Brice Irving, 2:37.00, second in conference and fifth in region; Custar, 2:38.71, fifth in conference and eighth in region.
  
• Mile run — Irving, 4:21.30, conference and region champion; Mapp, 4:31.08, third in conference and fifth in region; Colin Jokisch, 4:39.41, fourth in conference and sixth in region.
  
• 3,000-meter run — Dustin Mettler, 8:49.14, conference and region champion; Josh Gracia, 8:51.31, runner-up in the conference and region; Isbek Salinas, 9:09.51, third in conference and fifth in region.
  
• 5,000-meter run — Mettler, 15:19.40, conference and region champion; Phillip Banowetz, 15:36.45, second in conference and third in region; Cianan Kutil, 16:15.70, fifth in conference and seventh in region.
  
• 60-meter hurdles — Ray Quill, 8.48, fourth in conference and eighth in region; Mac Griffith, 9.17, seventh in conference and 15th in region; Kale Hamm, 9.60, ninth in conference and 19th in region.
  
• Distance Medley Relay — Cowley “A”, 11:01.89, third in conference and sixth in region.
  4x400-meter relay — Cowley “A’, 3:36.45, sixth in conference and 10th in region.
  
• 4x800-meter relay — Cowley “A”, 7:54.89, conference and region champion.
  
• High jump — Hamm, 6-4, fourth in conference and 10th in region; Griffith, 6-2, sixth in conference and 13th in region.
  
• Pole vault — Michael McLeod, 14-7 ¼, conference and region champion; Griffith, 13-1 ½, third in conference and sixth in region.
  
• Long jump — Porter, 21-4 ¾, 15th in conference and 15th in region; Rocker, 20-9 ¼, 13th in conference and 21st in region.
  
• Triple jump — Porter, 42-9 ½, seventh in conference and 14th in region; Rocker, 38-0 ¾, 12th in conference and 21st in region.
  
• Shot put — Charles James, 49-11 ¾, second in conference and fourth in region; Marcus Tapia, 39-11 ¼, seventh in conference and 18th in region; Edric White, 34-1 ½, 15th in conference and 26th in region.
  
• Weight throw — Mason Putman, 47-0 ¾, fifth in conference and 10th in region; White, 42-6, ninth in conference and 15th in region; James, 42-1 ¼, 10th in conference and 16th in region.
  
• Heptathlon — Griffith, 4,601 points, conference champion and region runner-up.