Cavalier Night Relays

Last Friday night the JCCC track and field teams continued their stellar 2012 campaign by hosting the 2012 Cavalier Night Relays at the JCCC Fieldhouse.  With a mix of NJCAA and NAIA schools present, JCCC continued to make its presence felt across the country as a number of performances left their mark on the JCCC record book, as well as the national ranking list. 

The women's weight throw kicked off the night with 3 athletes registering personal bests and sweeping the top 3 places.  Monet Jackson threw a nation-leading mark of 16.47m, which is 9 cm farther than last year's national championship throw and also set a new JCCC Fieldhouse record.  Vanessa Levy improved her personal best throw by more than 2 feet to finish second with a mark of 14.92m, which also ranks her as the 2nd best performer in JCCC history next to Jackson.  Finally, Cortney Wilkerson threw a personal best mark of 14.41m, good enough for a 3rd place finish, and ranking her as the 3rd best performer in JCCC history behind Levy and Jackson.  In the men's weight throw, Caniggia Raynor set a JCCC Fieldhouse record, ranking him as the 2nd best performer in JCCC history and also set the 3rd best throw in school history with a winning mark of 16.69m.  In the shot put competition, JCCC athletes also fared well, with Monet Jackson and Vanessa Levy placing 2nd and 3rd with marks of 12.92m and 11.91m respectively.  On the men's side, Caniggia Raynor extended his personal best in the shot put by 10 cm and won the event with a throw of 15.09m. 

JCCC jumpers also finished with some great performances.  In the women's high jump Ashley Reid set a fieldhouse record and narrowly missed the JCCC school record finishing with a final clearance of 1.73m, which currently ranks as the top NJCAA performance in the nation.  Reid also won the women's long jump with a jump of 5.42m, narrowly missing the national championship qualifying mark.  In the pole vault Luke Arnold set a new fieldhouse record and captured the win with a height of 4.90m, while teammate Garrett Smith earned himself a trip to the indoor national championship meet with a clearance of 4.35m.  In the women's pole vault, Jessica Tingle tied a fieldhouse record with a jump of 3.20m on her way to a 1st place finish.

On the track, the JCCC runners continued to impress.  In the men's 60m hurdles Josh Schirmer registered the win with a time of 8.58 seconds, while fellow Cavalier Garrett Smith came in 2nd with a time of 9.24 seconds.  In the men's 60m dash, Mark Sitek ran 7.06 seconds, good enough for a 3rd place finish.  In the long sprints, JCCC athletes also found great success.  In the men's 300m run Kenny Lightner, Peter Rogers, and Marquel Nickens swept the top 3 places in the event, finishing with times of 35.20, 35.63, and 36.08 seconds respectively.  Additionally, the times of Lightner, Rogers and Nickens rank as the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th best JCCC performances ever in the event.  On the women's side, Maisha Mitchell and Brittney Parks finished 1-2 in the 300m run with times of 42.89 and 43.30 seconds, which also ranked as the 2nd and 3rd best JCCC performances ever in the event.  In the men's 400m run, Nickson Baselle finished 2nd with a time of 52.83 seconds to finish in 2nd place and in the women's 500m, lone runner Justine Podvin posted a new fieldhouse and school record time of 1:20.61 seconds.

In the mid-distance and distance events, JCCC athletes also found good success against their competition.  In the women's 800m run, Kirstie Sanders and Michelle Smith swept the top 2 finishes with times of 2:28.05 and 2:29.27 seconds, while James Bowlin ran to a 3rd place finish in the men's event with a time of 2:01.68 seconds.  Cooper Bell ran to a 2nd place finish and a time of 2:41.96 in the men's 1000m run, while in the men's mile Javier Segura and Brooks Ballou finished 1st and 3rd with respective times of 4:34.02 and 4:38.15.  In the women's mile race, Liliana Lira charged to a 2nd place finish with a time of 5:50.46, and the men's 3000m run saw Addis Kenea race to a 2nd place finish with a time of 9:27.00. 

In the final events of the evening, the men's and women's 4x400m teams both registered impressive wins.  The women's team of Justine Podvin, Maisha Mitchell, Kirstie Sanders and Brittany Parks raced the baton around the track in a new fieldhouse record time of 4:10.56 seconds.  The men's team of Marquel Nickens, Nickson Baselle, Peter Rogers, and Mark Sitek turned in the winning effort of 3:31.01 seconds to close out the meet.

While this meet saw some good performances, JCCC athletes and coaches feel that there is plenty of work left to be done, and that even better performances lie ahead.  JCCC will be competing once again this weekend at the UCM Mule Relays, with women competing on Friday and the men's competition on Saturday.