NJCAA Indoor ChampionshipsMar 7, 2015 by Taylor Dutch
South Plains Sweeps NJCAA Champs
South Plains Sweeps NJCAA Champs
The NJCAA Indoor Championships closed out with incredible performances from every corner of the track, including a NJCAA title and NCAA D1-caliber mark from Odean Skeen, a quadruple sweep from Lydia Mato, a triple sweep from Harry Malenga, and a NJCAA record in the 600m from Jaymes Dennision.
South Plains’ 60m phenom Odean Skeen blazed his way to the win in the men’s 60m with a new personal best mark of 6.56. The performance was new personal best for the Jamaica native and his first NJCAA Indoor title. Not factoring altitude conversions, the time would have put him as a major contender at the D1 NCAA Indoor Championships, in the mix with No. 4 and No. 5-ranked Tevin Hester and Kendal Williams.
It’s official, Lydia Mato owns the NJCAA distance scene. After winning the 5k, 3k and preliminary of the 1000m Friday afternoon, Mato returned on Saturday to dominate the mile with a win in a 5:03.35, 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Viola Kebenei and third-place Victoria Salvadores.
She then returned to the track to pull off a quadruple sweep after winning the 1000m in 2:58, again all smiles heading into the final straight-away. The Barton County standout ran 11,609m in less than 24 hours!
Harry Mulenga from Central Arizona also accomplished the impossible by returning to the track to take down the entire field for the win in the men’s mile. In a tactical race, Mulenga crossed the line for the win in a time of 4:16, ahead of teammate and runner-up Josh Thompson who edged out Vicennes’ Robert Murphy for a 2-3 finish.
Asa College’s Jaymes Dennision blazed through heat two of the men’s 600m for a new NJCAA record time of 1:16.22. The mark would have put him third in the USATF Indoor Championships last weekend, where Cas Loxsom set a new American record mark of 1:15.33.
In the men’s and women’s 400m finals, South Plains continued to dominate the sprint events with a win from Domonique Williams in 53.84, which was a new indoor personal best for the standout. In the men’s race, Jereem Richards pulled away for a dominating win in heat two, crossing the line in 46.70.
The women's team score was rounded out with a win from the South Plains squad in the 4x400m with a victory in 3:43, which beat out the Central Iowa’s relay team for the win and solidified the South Plains team title with 147.5 points.
In a dramatic final event, the South Plains men won the final heat of the men's 4x400m. Their time of 3:12 did not win the event, as Barton County's mark from the previous heat was faster (3:11), but the team title was secured with a total of 136 points.