NMJC Women’s T&F Wins 5th Outdoor National Championship
The NMJC women's track & field team scored 98 points to win the 2024 NJCAA DI Women's Outdoor T&F Championship for the second consecutive season.
The T-Birds defeated Barton Community College by five points and Cloud County Community College by 20 points.
Thrower Anisha Gibbons defended her 2023 national title in the javelin with a throw of 49.07m. The Mahaicony, Guyana native won the event by the slimmest margin possible, one cm. The runner-up Rejoice Agbewodie of Central Arizona threw 49.06m.
"God was definitely looking out for this girl the past two years," assistant track & field/throws coach David Evans said. "Two national titles separated by 3 cm total. Her goal was to repeat and possibly set a meet record, but in the end, she's all about the team and what she can do to contribute. Anisha overcame a lot of adversity to get where she's at right now and her reward became two national titles, an NJCAA national record, a Guyanese National record, and a full ride scholarship to Mississippi State University. I'm going to miss her dearly, but we will always be in touch. I am very proud of that kid."
Lacarthea Cooper won the 400 national title on Saturday with her 53.65 finish in the race. Cooper defeated a field where the nearest finisher came across the line .08 seconds behind her.
"Cooper is one of the best runners in junior college," NMJC track & field assistant Tabarie Henry said. "It is unfortunate that she has had so many injuries and setbacks all year. I've yet to see her run a full race healthy this season. It was a pleasure to see her battle and finally take home an individual national title in the 400m. It is a race that holds a lot of importance to me because when I competed the 400m was my specialty."
The Bahamian also came in fourth place in the 200m with a time of 23.82. Cooper leaves West Monroe as a 400m national champion, team national champion, and two-time All-American.
Thrower Bruna Vieira de Jesus finished in third place in the javelin. The freshman threw 48.95m to earn the T-Birds six points on her personal-best throw. The throws athletes accounted for 40 of the team's 98 points at the championship.
Kavel Ritchie placed fourth in the triple jump with a leap of 12.10m. The jump earned her two-time All-American status for the 2024 outdoor championships and added five points to the team total.
Kamaria Knight had a great performance on Saturday finishing as an All-America in the 200m and the 100m. Knight ran an 11.80 in the 100m on her way to a fifth-place finish. She also placed fifth overall in the 200m with a time of 24.03. The two fifth-place finishes earned NMJC eight points.
Hurdler Maliah Edwards was the last athlete to make the finals in the 100mH. She made the most of her opportunity and ran a 14.10 to come in fifth place. The finish credits Edwards as an All-American in the indoor and outdoor seasons and put four points towards the Thunderbird team total.
Distance runner Lisanne Schapendonk placed fifth overall in the 1500m finals, which put four points on the board. The Cuijk, Netherlands finished as an All-American with a time of 4:41.56 in the race.
Dejona Simpson finished in seventh place in the 400m final with a time of 54.95. The sophomore's All-American time added two more points to the team score. Nandy Kihuyu was one spot behind in eighth place. The freshman All-American ran a 55.18 in the race to snatch a point for the Thunderbird faithful.
The Thunderbirds closed the meet with 17 All-Americans, three individual national champions, one relay All-American squad, and one broken school record. The T-Birds have won 10 national championships in track & field with five in the outdoor season and five during the indoor season.
Day 2
Day 2 in West Monroe, LA., featured the field athletes coming through for NMJC and scoring valuable points.
Esteisy Salas-Lozano was the national runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 15.30m. Treneese Hamilton of Barton Community College threw 17.46m to take home the title. Salas-Lozano is an All-American with the second-place finish earning NMJC eight points. This year the freshman was the runner-up in the shot put for the indoor and outdoor seasons.
Jumper Achol Maywin placed third overall in the high jump with a leap of 1.68m. Maywin finished third in the indoor season as well. The All-American leap tallied 5.5 points towards the T-Bird total.
Thrower Yosiris Cordoba set the school record in the discus with her 54.00m throw on Friday. The throw was good enough to have Cordoba finish in third place. The All-American finish added six points to the team total and is No. 3 all-time for the NJCAA.
Jumper Daniel Hinds placed sixth overall in the high jump this year with a leap of 1.63m. Hinds placed fourth last year in the outdoor season with a 1.70m jump. Hinds's sixth place All-American finish in 2024 added three points to the team total.
The T-Birds finished the second day in third place with 43 points. NMJC trailed Barton Community College by 18 points (61) and Cloud Community College by two points (45).
Day 1
The Thunderbirds produced a national champion in the hammer throw, a national runner-up in the 4x800m and finished sixth in the long jump on Day 1 to earn 20.5 points on the opening day of the meet.
Tania Millena Ancelmo Da Silva won the hammer throw national championship with a toss of 55.40m. The throw beat out Natalie Albert of Iowa Western by 4.34m. Da Silva has now won the indoor weight throw and the outdoor hammer throw title in her first season with the T-Birds.
What was most impressive about the performance was that every single one of her six throws would have won the title this year in the hammer.
"Tania executed our pre-meet strategy perfectly. I told her if the first or second throw could be a massive one, then psychologically she was going to set the tone," assistant track & field/throws coach David Evans said. "It's really hard to come in with that target on your back as the No. 1 ranked athlete, but after her positive experience indoors, she knew she just needed to do what she was capable of and everything else would fall in place. She was very happy with her contribution to the overall team goal of winning a team national title."
The 4x800m relay squad of Lisanne Schapendonk, Jayne Elvin, Daphne Kausz, and Jody Ann Mitchell came in second place with a time of 9:18.10. The All-American finish was 11.67 seconds behind the national champion Cloud County.
Kavel Ritchie placed sixth in the long jump with a leap of 5.91m. The finish earned the team 2.5 points and her All-American honors.