In sports, there are storybook finishes and sometimes roller coaster rides that take your breath and make your eyes get wide at the same time. Saturday at the Alachua Sports & Events Center the storylines abounded at the 2024 NJCAA Indoor National Championships.
Coming into the meet, the Women's team ranked 3rd in the nation. The ladies started the year ranked 3rd in the USTFCCCA National TFRI rating index. They then climbed to 2nd for 3 straight weeks before being ranked 3rd in a mere deadlock heading into the national meet. This was to set up a heavyweight boxing match of perennial power programs in New Mexico JC and Barton CC who were ranked 1st and 2nd respectively. New Mexico JC was vying to repeat as champions. Enter the group chat, Iowa Western who had previously won championships in 2021 and 2022 indoor and outdoor. Day 1 saw the drama unravel early.
Calleisha Chance put pressure on the entire long jump field from her 1st jump with a 6.11m. She sprinted down the runway and put it out in the sand to a new personal best 6.11m, which was a big improvement from her previous best of 5.87m. That result would hold until the final jump where she was dropped down to 2nd place. Chance got up for one last attempt, but unfortunately fouled on her final attempt.
Chin-Loy Raymond provided a 3rd place finish in the shot put with a pr of 14.30m to earn All America honors. Raymond moved up on her ranking of 4th coming in just behind her teammate Sarai Simpson. Simpson was unable to make the finals unfortunately due to an injury she sustained.
The Women's DMR of Van Vuuren, Cole, Gradizzi, and Estrada finished 2nd in 11:56.29 setting a new school record and posting the #8 performance in NJCAA history.
Barbara Nieva finished 4th in the 5000m in a personal best of 17.37.98 to earn All-America honors.
On Day 2, Chance returned in the high jump and posted a 1.67m performance that was good for 5th place to earn her 2nd All America honor and start the scoring for the Reivers.
The Women's 4x800m Relay of Van Vuuren, Pierson Olivas, Nieva earned All-America honors placing 5th in 9:26.49.
Tanique Taylor placed 4th to earn her All America honors in the 60m hurdles running a new personal best of 8.72.
Judith Koumedzina provided a 4th place finish to earn All-America honors in the 60m dash running 7.59.
Angeline Estrada placed 3rd in the 600m running 1.32.03 to earn All-America honors posting the 2nd fastest time in school history.
Van Vuren doubled back for the 1-mile run to run a gutsy performance of 4:59.12 to place 7th and earn All-America honors.
Ethel Amissah provided the Reivers its 1st individual national championship of the meet by winning the 400m dash. She sped around the track in a new indoor personal best of 54.26. What made her win even more special was that she outran 2 of her country women in Obour from Western Texas College and Nuhu from Cloud County. Amissah time was also the 2nd best in school history. Kaylia Kelly placed 5th in the 400m running 56.00 to earn her 1st All-America honor of the meet.
Kelly doubled back 30 minutes later to run 25.74 in the 200m to place 8th and earn her 2nd All-America honor of the meet.
Mercy Honesty won the Women's Triple Jump to become a National Champion completing an undefeated indoor season with a 12.47m jump. Both of Honesty's jumps would have won the competition and she now sits the #20 best performer in NJCAA history and #2 in school history. Teammate Sakina Umar placed 6th place in a personal best of 11.94m to move to #3 in school history and earn All-America honors.
Natalie Albert placed 5th in the weight throw with a heave of 16.09m to earn All-America honors.
Estrada and Van Vuuren seemingly didn't leave the track all day. Estrada came back in the 1000m to place 5th running 2:59.22 the number 3 performance in school history and earn All-America honors. Van Vuuren ran a 3:00.25 to place 7th just off her pr she set in the prelims for her 4th All-America honor of the meet.
Now this is where the situation got interesting. Heading in to the 4x400m Relay the Reivers points had been tabulated. The challenge before them was that they had to win the 4x4 to tie for a share of the team championship. They would have to do so from the 2nd to last heat and hope that their time would hold with one heat remaining. The team of Glory Okon, Amissah, Kelly, and Estrada sped around the track to 3:41.93 to win the event and become National champions. This event's victory provided the team with the necessary 10 points and clinch a tie for the team title.
Head Track and Field Coach David Burnett was honored with Coach of the Meet honors. "This was a total team effort. We had a lot of young ladies do several events for us this weekend and I am proud of how we came together to win this championship. It is a great feeling to see all the hard work the student-athletes and staff put in to come to fruition. "
The women tallied 5 event National Champions, and 28 All-America honors.
Up next the Teams will take a few weeks off before turning the page towards the outdoor season. March 28-30 the teams will split when they head to the Emporia Relays and Texas Relays/Texas State Invitational.
