Women place third at NJCAA Indoor Championships
LUBBOCK, Texas -- For the third time in school history, the Butler women's indoor track and field team had a top-three finish at the NJCAA National Indoor Championships - placing third behind South Plains (Texas) and Iowa Central.
The Butler women scored 62 team points and had the top finish of any Jayhawk Conference school. Coffeyville, Cowley and Cloud County also finished in the top 10. In addition to the third-place plaque, sophomore Latesha Bigby was named the NJCAA Women's Indoor Field Athlete of the Year. Butler head coach Jeff Becker and assistant coach James White were also named the top coaches of the year.
Butler had two individual first-place finishes at the meet, with Bigby taking first in the pentahlon with 3,686 points. In the five pentahlon events, Bigby finished first in the 55-meter hurdles, long jump, 800-meter dash and took second in the long jump event. Sophomore Remona Burchell won the 200-meter dash and set a school record with a time of 23.67 seconds, winning the event by four-tenths of a second.
Along with her first-place performance in the pentahlon, Bigby had a pair of top-five finishes in the high jump (fourth) and long jump (fifth). Burchell was edged out in the 55-meter dash, just 0.02 seconds behind the winner. The 4x800-meter relay team of Fiona Masai, Abiane Collymore, Jonelle Reinert and Nhaieemah Horne had a runner-up time of 9:44.19, which is the third-best time in school history.
The distance medley relay team of Collymore, Reinert, Horne and Masai placed fourth, while the 4x400-meter relay team of Carole Idolphine, Reinert, Horne and Burchell finished fifth.
| Women's Team Results | ||
| 1. | South Plains (TX) | 203 |
| 2. | Iowa Central | 133 |
| 3. | Butler | 62 |
| 4. | Coffeyville | 36 |
| 5. | Hinds (MS) | 34 |
| 5. | Johnson County | 30 |
| 7. (tie) | Cowley | 29 |
| New Mexico JC | 29 | |
| 9. (tie) | Cloud County | 24 |
| Vincennes (IN) | 24 | |
| Women | |||
| 55m dash | Remona Burchell | 7.00p / 6.82f | 2nd place |
| 200m dash | Remona Burchell | 24.18p / 23.67f | National Champion - New school record |
| 600m run | Carole Idolphine | 1:39.38p / 1:37.72f | 8th place - 2nd All-time at Butler |
| 800m run | Abiane Collymore | 2:28.58p | 11th place |
| Mile | Fiona Masai | 5:34.00 | 8th place |
| 3000m run | Fiona Masai | 10:39.72 | 6th place - 10th All-time at Butler |
| 55m hurdles | Latesha Bigby | 8.25p / 9:15f | 8th place |
| 4x800m relay | 9:44.19 | 2nd place - 3rd All-time at Butler | |
| Fiona Masai | 2:26.8 | ||
| Abiane Collymore | 2:26.5 | ||
| Jonelle Reinert | 2:28.1 | ||
| Nhaieemah Horne | 2:22.3 | ||
| DMR | 12:40.90 | 4th place - 4th All-Time at Butler | |
| Abiane Collymore (1200m) | 3:55.1 | ||
| Jonelle Reinert (400m) | 59.2 | ||
| Nhaieemah Horne (800m) | 2:24.3 | ||
| Fiona Masai (1600m) | 5:21.9 | ||
| 4x400m relay | 3:55.97 | 5th place - 5th All-time at Butler | |
| Carole Idolphine | 60.3 | ||
| Jonelle Reinert | 59.9 | ||
| Nhaieemah Horne | 59.6 | ||
| Remona Burchell | 55.8 | ||
| High jump | Latesha Bigby | 5' 5 1/4" | 3rd place |
| Rachel Meier | 4' 11 1/2" | 20th place | |
| Long jump | Latesha Bigby | 18' 5" | 4th place |
| Weight throw | Josie Wright | 40' 6 3/4" | 15th place |