Mohammed Kowa Wins Two Individual Championships
The Reivers were back in action at the NJCAA Indoor Championships bringing a strong contingent. With 25 members strong, they brought the best out of every team at this year's championship. They finished 5th out of the 32 teams that scored points with 69.50 points.
Mohamed Kowa highlighted the meet with 2 individual national championships to bring his total to 3 in his career. Kowa sped around the track in the 800m to win over Region foe Tyrice Taylor of Indian Hills running 1:50.23. Kowa then doubled back a mere 45 minutes later to win the 1000m run in 2:26.12. He had previously teamed up with Oguma, Mabar, and Sabino on the 4th place DMR that ran 9:48.83 which was now the 2nd best mark in school history. The DMR was a historic event in and of itself as the top 2 times were all under the previous national record that Iowa Western set back on February 3 at the Northwest Missouri State Bearcat open.
Geoffry Ronoh capped off an impressive freshman indoor campaign by finishing 2nd place in the 3000m after doubling back from the 5000m to earn All-America honors by running 8:06.70. Earlier in the day, Ronoh had placed 5th in the 5000m running 14:05.65 to earn All-America honor. Teammate Barnabas Ndiwa was 7th in 14:05.89 to also earn All-America honors.
Michael Francois finished 3rd place in a very close 600m run that saw 1-3 separated by just .25 seconds. Francois sped around the track to 1:17.56 to earn All-America honors.
The 4x800m Relay of Chappell, Mabar, Sabino, Herschbach ran 7:38.15 to finish 4th and each earn All-America honors.
Nikkolai Kennedy ran a good race to finish 8th in the 60m hurdles in 8.10 to earn an All-America medal.
Yekini Bowen and Denzs Simmonds finished 3rd and 4th respectively in the shot put. Bowen posted a 17.07m while Simmonds threw 16.77m to both grab All-America medals. Donald Lamp finished 7th in the weight throw in 17.20m to earn All-America honors.
Cory Vaughan Jr. posted a huge personal best in the triple jump where he hopped, skipped, and jumped his way to a 15.13m showing to earn All-America honors and move to #4 in school history.
Paul Rowden finished 8th place in the high jump with a 1.99m showing to earn his 3rd All America honors of his career.
Up next the Teams will take a few weeks off before turning the page towards the outdoor season. March 28-30 the teams will split when they head to the Emporia Relays and Texas Relays/Texas State Invitational.