Thursday 5/13/21

Levelland, Texas-The Men's and Women's Track and Field teams competed last Tuesday through Thursday at the NJCAA National Meet held at South Plains Community College.  Although both teams did not quite have the numbers to contend for a national title, the individuals that represented CAC performed valiantly.  As it has been a consistent theme all season, Precious Robinson and Princess Kara led CAC in scoring in their respective events.

Tuesday started off with CAC's Men's 4x800 team earning 8th place, earning top honors in the ACCAC Region and scoring the men's first point of the meet.  The men's team would continue to have 1 point for the next two days until Kamijah Carter secured 5th place and netted 4 points in the 400 Hurdles.  Kamijah would lead the men's team in scoring and would be the only individual male to score at nationals.  "Kamijah did what he needed to do, he was ranked in the middle half before coming into the meet but put himself in a prime position to score once he made the finals.  I am very proud of him" Stated Head Coach Andrew Wood. 

The Vaqueras had a little more success scoring points, claiming 8th place out of more than 25 schools at the national meet.  The women were led by Precious Robinson, who scored 16 of the women's total 41 points, by placing 2nd in both the 10k and 5k.  "Wow, all I can say to Precious' performances.  She has been a pleasure to coach all year and I could not be any happier for her because she set goals at the start of the season to go to nationals and represent her community (The Navajo Nation) and CAC." Explained Distance Coach Jon Harmon.  Harmon's squad continued to show resilience by having scored in the 3k steeplechase, 1500 meters, and co-coached Salomay Agyei who placed 6th overall in the 800 meters.  "Ariz Duarte and Salomay both exceeded expectations this day, they were focused on helping the team in any way possible and worked hard to claim that they are the top 8 in the nation in their events" Reiterated Coach Harmon. 

Coach Wood, who trains the hurdlers, helped Kwanda Knight secure 3rd place overall in the 400 meter hurdles and helping score 6 points on her own.  Princess Kara, would be CAC's lone champion by winning the Discuss in a throw of 51.56m, staking her claim as undefeated in every competition in 2021.  Princess would also help team scoring by placing 4th in the shot put, securing 5 points in the process.

"Every athlete that competed this week at nationals really gave it their all and I am very happy with their performances.  We will continue to grow and get better and shall represent CAC to the best of our abilities next season"  Stated Coach Wood, who will embark on his 2nd year as Head Coach of the program in 2022.