Women’s Track & Field Claim 2nd Outdoor Title, Men Finish 3rd Overall
Hutchinson, Kan. – Iowa Western Women's Track & Field held on by just 7.67 points over Barton Community College to claim the 2025 NJCAA Division I Women's Track & Field Championship at Gowans Stadium.
The race for the women's team title came down to the final events on Saturday afternoon. After two days of competition, the Reivers led New Mexico JC 50 to 45, but Barton climbed the ladder to challenge IWCC for the title.
The Cougars finished first, second, and seventh in the discus for 20 team points. Monifa Edwards scored three points for Iowa Western, finishing 6th overall with a throw of 46.05m
Reiver Sophomore Mercy Honesty successfully defended her triple jump title with a new stadium record jump of 13.21m, giving her all four triple jump titles from the past two seasons of indoor and outdoor national meets. Sakina Umar also scored six huge points in the event, finishing 3rd to keep pace with Barton's Celine Riddle, who finished as the runner-up with a 12.38m jump.
Barton gained seven more points, finishing second in the women's 4x100m relay, and Iowa Western ended in eighth place for a single point. Tanique Taylor added three more points for IW in the 100m Hurdles.
The Cougars had a late chance to secure the team title with three events remaining, leading 86.33 to 83, but Kayda Austin pulled up with an apparent injury in the 200m dash with just 20m remaining to finish 7th instead of a possible top-2 time for Barton.
That left the door open for the Reivers in the 5000m. Freshman Juliana Sakat continued her dominance in the distance races, winning the event easily with a time of 16:43.47. Freshman Hafssa Boutrich also scored in the event, earning four points with a 5th place finish to give Iowa Western a 98 to 88.33 lead with Barton's 4x400m relay team needing a win to take the trophy. The Cougars would finish 7th, giving Iowa Western their 2nd outdoor national championship since 2022.
Juliana Sakat outscored all but nine teams at the meet (31.5 points), winning the 1500m, 5000m, and 10000m while also helping the 4x800m relay earn the bronze medal. Her time in the 10k set a new stadium record and meet record time of 34:45.90. She also broke the NJCAA record held by Iowa Western's Faith Linga Chepengat earlier this season on April 18th at the Bryan Clay Invitational in Azusa, CA, posting a time of 33:23.71, smashing Faith's time by almost 1:20.
On the men's side, Iowa Western found themselves sitting in second place after both day one and two, but only had six out of the 13 events on Saturday with finalists. The Reivers started the day off with 4th place finishes from Gabriel Ortiz in the Javelin Throw and Yekini Bowen in the Discus Throw. Bowen also finished 4th in Shot Put and 5th in Hammer Throw a day earlier.
Men's Triple Jump saw three Reivers post scoring marks. Freshman Lebon Attoungbre ended the event as the national runner-up with a jump of 16.34m, while Abagotte Opiew and Otenidi Omot finished in 7th and 8th place for three more team points.
The Men's 400m Dash was one of the most exciting finishes of the weekend. Michael Francois qualified for the finals with the second fastest time, running it in 45.41 seconds. In the finals, Francois and Tavon Davis of Hinds CC were neck-and-neck rounding the final turn and into the stretch. Francois edged out Davis in a photo finish by just .002 seconds to take the title at 45.391.
Barnabas Ndiwa rounded out the day three scoring, finishing in 3rd place in the men's 5000m run. The Sophomore also scored in the 10000m, ending as the national runner-up. The team finished the meet with 83 points, 13 over ICCAC foe Indian Hills to keep the Reivers on the podium. South Plains continued their winning ways, securing the Texans' fifth consecutive men's outdoor title with 119 points.
The Reivers finished the 3-day meet with 16 Top-3 finishers, five national champions, and 48 USTFCCCA All-Americans. This is the 6th NJCAA Division I Women's Track & Field Championship for the Reivers since 2021, and, with the two trophies in Hutchinson, it gives the Cross Country/Track & Field Program six team trophies for the 2024-25 season and 17 team trophies in the last five years. This past season also saw 11 individual national titles for the Reivers CC/TF program, 101 All-Americans, four national records, and 26 school records fall throughout the year as well. Iowa Western's Athletic Department also adds to its NJCAA-leading 29 team national championships since 2020 and 138 national championships since 2006.
Women's Event Scorers
Mercy Honesty Triple Jump 1st place
Juliana Sakat 5000m Run 1st place
Juliana Sakat 1500m Run 1st place
Juliana Sakat 10000m Run 1st place
Sarai Simpson Shot Put 2nd place
Elizabeth Ewusie Steeplechase 3rd place
Mercy Honesty Long Jump 3rd place
Chin-Loy Raymond Shot Put 3rd place
Rasheda Samuels High Jump 3rd place
Sakina Umar Triple Jump 3rd place
4x800m Relay 3rd place
Hafssa Boutrich 5000m Run 5th place
Monifa Edwards Discus 6th place
Tanique Taylor 100m Hurdles 6th place
Chin-Loy Raymond Hammer Throw 7th place
Hafssa Boutrich 1500m Run 8th place
4x100m Relay 8th place
Men's Event Scorers
Michael Francois 400m Dash 1st place
Lebon Attoungbre Triple Jump 2nd place
Barnabas Ndiwa 10000m 2nd place
Yekini Bowen Discus 3rd place
Barnabas Ndiwa 5000m Run 3rd place
Yekini Bowen Shot Put 4th place
Cain Brown High Jump 4th place
Gabriel Ortiz Javelin 4th place
Geofrey Ronoh Steeplechase 4th place
Lebon Attoungbre Long Jump 5th place
Yekini Bowen Hammer Throw 5th place
John Mabar 1500m Run 5th place
Flynn Pumpa 1500m Run 6th place
Geofrey Ronoh 10000m 6th place
4x800m Relay 6th place
Abagotte Opiew Triple Jump 7th place
Otenidi Omot Triple Jump 8th place
Flynn Pumpa Steeplechase 8th place
4x400m Relay 8th place
Full Meet Results Here.
