Posted: May 21, 2017
South Plains wins 11th straight Men's Track National Championship
South Plains (TX) won the 2017 NJCAA Division I Men's Track & Field Championship Saturday at Gowans Stadium in Hutchinson, Kansas. The national title is the 11th consecutive for the Texans, which extends their NJCAA record.
South Plains athletes finished in the top 10 in 15 events and took home 13 top three finishes to accumulate 126 team points. Barton (KS) finished second in the team standings with 98 points followed by Iowa Central with 73.
- South Plains swept first and second place in the 110 meter hurdles as well as the 400 meter hurdles. Robert Dunning posted the best time in the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.81, followed by William Watson at 13.99. Okeen Williams clocked in at 51.85 in the 400 hurdles to take first place - just in front of teammate Rayan Holmes at 52.49.
- Laquan Nairn (above) of South Plains leaped to an individual national title in the triple jump with a distance of 15.18 meters. He also placed second in the long jump with a mark of 7.38 meters.
- Other notable performances for South Plains: Adrian Williams - 2nd, javelin (60.25m); Saahir Betha - 3rd, triple jump (14.75m); Patrick Johnson - 3rd, decathlon (6,537); Nicholas Rotich - 3rd, 3000m SC (9:26.02); Junior Charles, Jordan Atkinson, Williams and Hood - 2nd, 4x400 (3:08.38); Dekaryea Freeman, Rotich, Robert Downs, Jr., Omero Rodriguez - 3rd, 4x800 (7:40.88)