PITTSBURG, KS – The Iowa Central mens' indoor track and field team, who were ranked fourth entering the national final, came out on top for their sixth title in the past nine years. The women entered the meet ranked fifth and finished in fifth. The Tritons were led by coach Nigel Bigbee, who was named the 2019 Men's Coach of the Meet after earning USTFCCCA Midwest Region Men's and Women's Head Coach of the Year honors earlier in the week. Bigbee's squads outperformed their seeds in nearly every event. On the men's side it was a very balanced attack with the Tritons scoring in 14 of the 20 events .

The event where the Tritons scored the most team points (14) was the men's 3,000 meter run.  Freshman, Awet Yohannes, competing in his second event of the day sprinted neck-and-neck the last lap to the finish to win by 0.2 seconds. He ran a season's best time of 8:18.68, which is also third best in school history. Freshman teammate, Milos Pendic finished in fifth place with a time of 8:30.82. In addition to Yohannes' national title in the 3,000 meter event, he anchored the first race of the day to a win, the distance medley relay (DMR). The DMR team of Miguel Coca (1200 meters), David Dunlap (400 meters), Thomas Bryant (800 meters) and Yohannes (1600 meters) ran 10:03.49, the seventh fastest time in school history for the win. On day two of the Championships, Yohannes finished second in the mile run, in a tactical race with a time of 4:17.66.

Freshman Courtney Lindsey of Rock Island, IL was the Tritons final national champion of the weekend for the men.  Lindsey competed in the 60 meters, 200 meters and 4 x 400 meter relay; breaking school records in all three events.  Lindsey put down a 6.66 in the prelims of the 60 meters, just .01 seconds off his own school record. In the finals he finished runner-up in a new record time of 6.64. Teammate Kris Brown ran a lifetime best of 6.78 to make the final where he finished fifth overall in 6.80. Lindsey was crowned the National Champion in the 200 meter dash. He ran his best time in the qualifying round with a mark of 20.86 and then a 20.89 in the finals. His time broke Malik Beverly's previous record of 21.09 set last season. In the relay Lindsey anchored the team of Dunlap, Ethan Smith, and Phemelo Matlhabe. The Tritons finished second overall in 3:11.32, besting their school record set back in 2012.

Sophomore, Olivier Soglohun of United Township High School in East Moline, IL had the national meet experience everyone dreams of.  He entered the meet fresh off a personal best jump at regionals, ranked eighth in the field, hoping to score at least one team point. He made finals with a personal best and the fourth best jump of the day up to that point.  On his second to last jump he set another personal record by over a foot, with a mark of 15.55 meters (51-0.25"). His jump moved him up to third overall and tied for second best in school history.

Freshman, Jadon Watson of Paterson, NJ was another athlete who ignored the performance list. He was ranked 10^th in the high jump entering the meet and left in fourth place. Watson jumped a personal best 2.10 meters (6-10.75"), which is seventh best in school history.

Continuing along that same theme, sophomore, Mel Obadiah of Cleveland, TN was ranked 13^th in the 800 meters entering the competition. During the preliminary round he produced the sixth fastest qualifying mark and a personal best time of 1:54.07. His time is eighth fastest in school history.  During finals on Saturday, Obadiah finished fifth overall in 1:54.92.

Three additional Tritons finished in fifth for the men's team.  Sophomore, Tyler Lienau of Jesup, IA was fifth in the 35-pound weight throw (17.65m/57-11"). Freshman, Ethan Smith of Canada was fifth in the 600 meters with a personal best time of 1:19.53, third fastest in school history. Sophomore, Akeem Bradshaw of the British Virgin Islands was fifth in the long jump with a seasons best mark of 7.30 meters (23-11.5").  Fellow long jumper, sophomore, Caleb Kath of Preston, MN failed to score but did produce a personal best mark of 7.03 meters (23-0.75") to finish 11^th overall.

Other point-scorers for the Tritons included sophomore, Caden Fenchel of Hull, IA in the shot put. Fenchel threw 15.80 meters (51-10") to finish in eighth. Sophomore, Phemelo Matlhabe, of South Africa who has nursed an injury all season long competed in the 400 meter dash. He ran 48.24 in preliminaries and 48.38 in finals to finish in eighth. Teammate Cornelius Woods, of Chicago, IL ran a personal best in the 400 meter preliminaries to place 25^th overall with his time of 49.66.

Other notable performances for the Tritons included freshman, David Dunlap of Glendale, WI in the 200 meters. Dunlap finished 10^th overall, just missing the 9-person final by .001 seconds. His time of 21.47 was a personal best and fifth best in school history. The men's 60 meter hurdle event produced two new personal bests just shy of making finals. Sophomore, Tyreck Newman of Milliville, NJ finished 9^th in 8.13 while freshman, Zavante Chichester of Cincinnati, OH finished in 10^th in 8.14. Newman and Chichester ran the 10^th and 11^th fastest times in school history.

The women's team was highlighted by two individual national titles. Freshman, Florance Uwajeneza of St. Paul, MN started the night with a victorious run in the 5,000 meters. Her time of 17:10.45 was a new personal best and the third fastest time in school history. Uwajeneza was named the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Female Track Athlete of the Year prior to the competition. Sophomore Winrose Chesang of Kenya, finished right behind her in 17:10.54, fourth fastest in school history while teammate Lilian Busienei of Kenya, finished in fourth in a time of 18:05.54. The trio scored 23 team points between them in the 5,000m run.

The trio wasn't done, as all three competed in the 3,000 meters and the mile run as well. Chesang took her turn and was crowned national champion in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 10:08.61 while Uwajeneza placed sixth. Chesang also placed fifth in the mile run with a personal best time of 5:09.39. Chesang's performance was the sixth fastest in school history.

Freshman, Lea Grady of Davenport, IA earned a national runner up spot in the 20-pound weight throw. Prior to the weekend, Grady was named the USTFCCCA Midwest Region Female Field Athlete of the Year. Grady had a personal best toss of 17.22 meters (56-6") to earned second.  Sophomore teammate, Maddie Schmoker of Kellog, MN finished fifth with a mark of 16.60 meters (54-5.5"). Schmoker also finished seventh in the shot put with a mark of 13.23 meters (43-5").

Also scoring for the Triton women was sophomore, India McNeill of Richmond, VA. McNeill ran 1:37.03 in the preliminary round of the 600 meters to advance to the finals. In the finals she ran 1:38.83 to place seventh overall.

Coach Bigbee said, "I'm very happy about the results on the weekend. Our women's team fought exceptionally hard and only ended up a few points out of third place. The men were great. They accepted the challenge and fought for every spot in the final. They saw the rankings before we went to the meet and didn't let those numbers define their performances. Championships are won on the second day and we were well represented in all but a few events. You can't win championships without athletes but you also have to have an amazing staff and my guys were up to the task this weekend and made it easy on the athletes and myself. I can't thank them enough."