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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – By a slim eight-point margin, the Iowa Central women stood atop the JDL Fast Track podium Saturday at the NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships as national champions for the fourth time in seven years.
Distance runner Leanne Pompeani spurred the Tritons on to victory, claiming two of Iowa Central’s four individual titles at the meet. The freshman’s record time of 16 minutes, 55.62 seconds, in the 5,000-meter run set a new NJCAA championship mark. Pompeani was also victorious in the 3,000-meter run, finishing in 9:51.50. Just two-thirds of the way through her first collegiate season, Pompeani already owns three individual national titles – having won the 2015 NJCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country Championship in November.
Sophomores Ariel Jackson and Danielle Riggins claimed the Tritons’ other two victories at the championship meet. Jackson’s 55.97-second sprint in the 400-meter dash topped the field, while Riggins won the 60-meter hurdles in 8.50 seconds.
Outside of Pompeani’s performance in the 5,000-meter run, three more national meet records fell – two of which came at the hands of Central Arizona competitors. Vaqueras freshman Portious Warren recorded a 16.29-meter throw to win the shot put, while sophomore Tynelle Gumbs recorded a record-breaking distance of 20.91 meters in the weight throw. Barton (Kan.) freshman Ayesha Champagnie set a new mark in the pentathlon, totaling 4,003 points in the competition.
Despite earning victories in four events, New Mexico’s 107 points for the meet fell just short of the 115 compiled by Iowa Central. The runner-up Thunderbirds posted two victories in the relay events, winning the 4x400 in 3:44.48 and the 4x800 in 9:36.90. Individual winning performances for New Mexico included sophomore Jahneya Mitchell’s 1:32.57 performance in the 600-meter run and freshman Tamara Moncrieffe’s 12.86-meter effort in the triple jump.
Monroe College (N.Y.) won a meet-high six events but finished with just 92 points for third place. Freshman Zakiya Denoon won the 60-meter and 200-meter dashes for the Mustangs with times of 7.42 and 24.09 seconds, respectively. Fellow freshman Susan Ejore won two events as well, finishing the 1,000-meter run in 2:50.35 and the 1-mile run in 4:58.97. Monroe College sophomore Breaisha Morton recorded a winning distance of 1.71 meters in the high jump, while the Mustangs won the distance medley relay in 11:58.54.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Sides.