DECORAH, Iowa – Emily Burchett (Fr., Mayview, MO) won the women’s weight throw and Cesar Guevara (Fr., Ackley, IA) qualified for the NJCAA National Indoor Championships in the men’s 600-meter run at the Region XI Indoor Championships on Saturday.
Burchett won with a toss of 15.71 meters (51’6½”) and was NIACC’s only champion at the meet. Her toss was a little below two meters longer than second place Lauren Smith of Iowa Central, who threw 13.78 meters (45’2½”). Burchett already qualified for the national meet at the Hilltop Open two weeks ago.
Guevara placed fourth in the 600 in 1:24.22. His time was only .48 seconds under the qualifying standard. He is the fourth member of the men’s team to qualify for nationals in an event behind OJ Ojullu (Fr., Worthington, MN), RJ Harris (So., Des Moines, IA), and Lance Maxwell (So., Racine, WI).
The men’s team had a number of second place finishers. Marquez Hobson (So., Minneapolis, MN) placed second in the mile in 4:30.32, and also placed fourth in the 1000-meter run in 2:42.96.
Harris was second in the 800-meter run in 1:57.93, while Ojullu clocked in at fifth in 1:58.97. Both already qualified for nationals in the 800- and 1000-meter runs before this weekend.
Trent Smith (Fr., Charles City, IA) fell just short of qualifying during a second place finish in the 3000-meter run. His time of 8:54.23 was .29 seconds short of the qualifying time. Cody Manchester (So., Mason City, IA) was fifth at 9:06.84.
Thrower Trey Taylor (Fr., Bloomfield, CT) placed second in the weight throw with a toss of 14.48 meters (47’6¼”). Maxwell, who qualified for nationals in the weight throw and the shot put earlier this month, placed seventh in the weight throw.
Aaron Arment (Fr., Marshalltown, IA) rounded out the men’s top finishes with a third in the 55-meter dash in a time of 6.63.
Anna Buenneke (So., Hazleton, IA) was the women’s second best finisher with a second in the 3000 in 10:16.61. She already qualified for nationals in the 3000, and also has qualified in the 1600- and 5000-meter runs.
Tanesha Edmond (So., St. Elizabeth, Jamaica) placed fourth in the high jump with a mark of 1.55 meters (4’11”) and fifth in the 55-meter hurdles in 9.87. She will go to nationals only for the high jump.
NIACC did not have a women’s distance medley team run despite having one qualify for nationals two weeks ago.
The track teams will next be at the NJCAA National Indoor Championships in Charleston, Illinois on March 2.
