Allen Track and Field competed at the highest level this past weekend at the NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, hosted on the campus of Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas. The national meet brought together individual competitors representing nearly 60 schools from across the country to compete for national titles.
Sophomore Kayla Cleveland got the meet started for ACC on Friday, competing in the women’s 60-meter hurdles preliminaries. Cleveland finished with a time of 8.82, placing third in her heat and 14th overall.
Next up were the women’s 60-meter preliminaries, where sophomore Ra’Nayla Moten finished first in her heat with a qualifying time of 7.29, marking a new facility record. Sophomore Grace Nwokocha also claimed a first-place finish in her heat with a qualifying time of 7.49, advancing to the finals on day two of the championships.
The Red Devils also competed in the men’s 60-meter preliminaries, featuring the trio of freshman Maurice Conner, freshman Ali Dargan, and sophomore Nate Jones. All three Red Devils finished in the top 20 of more than 30 competitors. Conner placed fourth in his heat with a time of 6.73, finishing 10th overall, just 0.03 seconds shy of advancing to the finals. Dargan and Jones both competed in the first heat, with Dargan posting a time of 6.78 to finish fourth in the heat and 13th overall, while Jones finished with a time of 6.84, placing sixth in the heat and 17th overall.
ACC returned to the track for the 200-meter preliminaries, where both the men’s and women’s teams had two competitors each. Stellar performances by Moten and Nwokocha qualified both athletes for the finals. Moten ran a 23.72 to finish first in her heat, while Nwokocha also placed first in her heat with a time of 24.10.
Freshman Jewlinsky Desrosiers competed in the men’s 800-meter preliminaries, finishing with a time of 1:56.88 to place 29th overall.
The ACC men’s 4×400-meter relay team of Aaron Thompson Jr., Maurice Conner, Ashton Gratton, and Kasiya Daley completed the race with a final time of 3:16.51, earning a 15th-place finish.
In the finals of the women’s 60-meter dash, Moten became an NJCAA national champion, winning the race with a time of 7.22, breaking her own facility record from the previous day’s preliminaries and posting the No. 1 time in the NJCAA this season. Nwokocha finished sixth in the finals with a time of 7.43. Together, Moten and Nwokocha scored 13 points for the ACC women’s team in the event.
Moten later competed in the finals of the women’s 200 meters, claiming national runner-up honors with a time of 23.46, finishing just 0.02 seconds behind first place.
ACC women’s track and field finished the indoor season with an 11th-place finish nationally.
