T-Bird Women’s T&F Competes at 2024 Indoor Nationals

The road to Gainesville, Fla., has finally arrived and the Thunderbirds are more than prepared for the NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships on March 1-2 at the Alachua Sports and Events Center.

The T-Birds have 20 athletes and three relay teams competing on Friday and Saturday. 

The below finishes are adjusted for altitude and are not raw times. Another caveat for Thunderbirds fans to know is that NMJC is only able to enter three athletes per event.  

Kamaria Knight will compete in three events this week in Gainesville. The freshman sprinter is No. 4 in the NJCAA for the 60m with a time of 7.49. Knight's second event will be the 200m where she is No. 7 in the country with a time of 24.19. The Spanish Town, Jamaican native will be the third leg in the 4x400m relay squad. 

Hurdler Maliah Edwards is ranked No. 5 in the NJCAA for the 60mH with a time of 8.76. 

Lacarthea Cooper is No. 1 in the NJCAA for the 400m (54.15) and 200m (23.97) headed into nationals. The sophomore sprinter will only compete in the 200m and the 4x400m this year. Last year, Cooper attempted to do the both the 200m and 400m but was hampered by an injury that affected her finishes. Cooper came in 8th place in the 400m last indoor season with a time of 56.69. The Bahamian native will anchor the mile relay squad Saturday afternoon.

Dejona Simpson is competing in the 400m and 4x400m this week. Simpson is No. 9 in the NJCAA for the 200m, but the T-Birds will elect to manage her workload with two events. Simpson is ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA for the 400m with a time of 55.21. The Jamaican is set to be the second leg of the 4x400m relay team. The sophomore sprinter finished third in the 400m and was a member of the national champion 4x400m relay team at the 2023 indoor championships in Kansas.

Nandy Kihuyu will race in the 400m and 4x400m relay as well. Kihuyu is No. 6 in the country for the 400m with a finish of 55.72. The Englishwoman is going to run the opening leg of the mile relay for her second and final race at nationals.

Jody Ann Mitchell will race in the 600m where she is ranked No. 2 in the NJCAA for the event with a time of 1:34.85. Mitchell will also be a substitute relay runner in the 4x400m, 4000m DMR, and 4x800m relay depending on race load management.

Lisanne Schapendonk will have one of the heaviest race loads at nationals for the women. Schapendonk will run in the 1000m, mile, 4x800m, and 4000m DMR. The Cuijk, Netherlands native is No. 4 in the NJCAA in the 1000m with a time of 2:58.60 and No. 17 in the mile with a finish of 5:08.56. Schapendonk will anchor the 4x800m relay and the distance medley relay. 

Vanessa Gallegos is on the same schedule as Schapendonk with a four-race load of the 1000m, mile, 4000m DMR, and 4x800m relay. Gallegos comes into the meet No. 13 in the 1000m with a time of 3:03.48 and No. 26 in the mile with a finish of 5:15.90. Gallegos will run the first leg of the distance medley relay and the second leg of the 4x800m relay. The sophomore distance runner was member of the DMR squad that came in fourth place at indoor nationals in 2023.

Ysanne Peart is competing with Jody Ann Mitchell in the 600m. Peart is No. 22 in the NJCAA for the event with a finish of 1:39.20. The freshman distance runner is the second leg of the 4000m DMR and will be a substitute for the 4x800m relay and mile relay. 

Distance runner Jayne Elvin is competing in three races this week. Elvin will run in the 800m where she is ranked No. 16 in the NJCAA with a time of 2:16.32. The Englishwoman will race as the first leg in the 4x800m relay and in the third leg of the 4000m DMR. 

Daphne Kausz races in the 800m and the 4x800m relay this week. Kausz is ranked No. 32 in the 800m with a finish of 2:20.52 and will be the third leg on the 4x800m relay team.

Morgan Waltmire will run in the 1000m where she is ranked No. 27 in the event with a time of 3:09.24. The sophomore distance runner will also be a substitute runner in the 4x800m relay and 4000m DMR.

Carolyne Kimaiyo is competing in both the 3000m and the 5000m on Friday. Kimaiyo is ranked No. 34 in the 3000m with a time of 10:43.95 and No. 14 in the 5000m with a finish of 18:28.86. Kimaiyo finished in fifth place last year in the 5000m race at indoor nationals in Kansas.  

Achol Maywin sits a No. 3 in the high jump with a leap of 1.72m. Daniel Hines is competing in the high jump as well and is ranked No. 10 in the NJCAA with a leap of 1.65m.

Kavel Ritchie is jumping in two events this week. Ritchie's first event will be the long jump where she ranks No. 17 in the NJCAA with a leap of 5.56m. The freshman jumper is competing in the triple jump on Day 2 and is ranked No. 8 for the event with a jump of 11.67m.

Esteisy Salas-Lozano comes in at No. 2 in the NJCAA for the shot put with a throw of 15.12m. The freshman thrower is also the school record holder for the shot. 

Yosiris Cordoba is the second member to compete in the shot put for NMJC. The freshman thrower is No. 18 in the event with a toss of 12.42m. 

Thrower Tania Millena Ancelmo Da Silva comes into nationals as the school record holder in the weight throw with a toss of 19.23m. The throw is No. 1 in the NJCAA for the event. 

The T-Birds will compete in three relays in Gainesville. The DMR is the first running final of the Day 1 and will feature the No. 3 ranked T-Birds who have recorded a 12:17.59 finish. NMJC is ranked No. 2 in the 4x800m relay with a composite finish of 9:11.21. The final relay team will compete in the last race of the day on Saturday in the mile relay. The Thunderbirds are ranked No. 1 in the 4x400m relay by more than 2.5 seconds with a time of 3:40.05.

There will be one white card entry from NMJC. The white card is essentially a wild card selection for an athlete who did not qualify for nationals and each team receives three entries to use. The T-Birds used the white card on Mikayla Gumbs for the high jump.

The meet on Day 1 will start with the pole vault at 11:30 a.m. EST and end with the 1000m at 8 p.m. EST. Day 2 starts with the high jump at 10:45 a.m. EST and ends with 4x400m relay at 3:55 p.m. EST. For the full schedule click here, for live results click here, and for the livestream of the events click here.