T-Bird M-T&F End Day 1 in 2nd Place, Dawson Wins LJ National Championship
The T-Bird men's track & field team finished Day 1 with five individual All-Americans, one relay All-American squad, and one individual national champion in the long jump. The Thunderbirds are in second place overall after Day 1 with 33 points. Pima CC leads the championship with 45 points.
Khybah Dawson was the first individual national champion for the T-Birds at the 2024 NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Gainesville, Fla. Dawson was second to Pima's Raekwon Weatherspoon after the completion of the first two flights. The sophomore jumper leapt 7.50m to trail Weatherspoon by .02m.
Dawson grabbed the lead in the finals on his fifth attempt with a 7.63m mark and sealed the victory on the final attempt with a personal-best jump of 7.73m. The jump defeated Weatherspoon by .21m. The All-American earned the Thunderbirds 10 points with his win in the long jump.
Tomas Vega was a two-time All-American Friday afternoon with his runner-up finish in the 5000m (8 points) and sixth-place finish in the 3000m (3 points). Tomas completed the 5000m in 14:03.43 and the 3000m in 8:15.47.
German Vega finished in third place in the 5000m (6 points) and fourth in the 3000m (5 points) to become a two-time All-American. German posted a time of 14:03.64 in the 5000m and 8:10.10 in the 3000m. The 3000m finish by German breaks the NMJC school record for the event.
The Vega brothers scored 22 of the team's 33 points with the each siblings accounting for 11 points.
The T-Bird distance medley relay squad set a school record in the DMR to earn All-American status. The quartet of Brian Cheruiyot, Chevoney Reid, Cyprien Bille, and Alex Keter finished the race in 10:07.92 to place eighth and earn NMJC a point.
Turning over to Saturday's slate, NMJC will have nine athletes competing in 11 events along with one relay team in the 4x400m.
Jumper Johnathon Rodgers is in the second flight of the triple jump in position 9 as he came in with a season-best leap of 15.18m. Thrower Joao Dalandrea will compete in the weight throw in flight 2 after coming into the event with a personal-best throw of 15.83m.
Tapiwanashe (Carlie) Makarawu ran a 6.66 in the 60m prelims and will be in lane 5. Makarawu is in the second heat of the 200m finals in lane 6 after recording the second-fastest time in prelims with a 20.86.
Takudzwa (Donald) Chiyangwa ran a 47.27 in prelims to make the 400m final. Chiyangwa will be in the second heat in lane 4 after posting the second fastest-time in the prelims.
Hurdler Amir Williams snuck into the final with an 8.04 in the 60mH and will be in lane 8.
Dyimond Walker made the 600m finals with a time of 1:19.38. Walker will race in lane 4 during heat 1.
Alex Keter made the finals in the 800m with a second-place finish of 1:52.32 in the prelims. Keter is also in the second heat of the mile finals with Tomas Vega. German Vega will be in the third heat of the mile finals.
The T-Birds 4x400m relay team will be in the last heat of the mile relay finals. The T-Birds come into the race with a time of 3:07.80, which is nearly a second ahead of second place Indian Hills. NMJC will running in lane 5.
Day 2 starts with the high jump at 10:45 a.m. EST and ends with 4x400m relay at 4:10 p.m. EST. For the full schedule click here, for live results click here, and for the livestream of the events click here.
