Meet Recap: 2024 NJCAA Indoor T&F Championships

Champions were crowned at the 2024 NJCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships!

Incredible all-time performances seemed to come from everywhere at the Alachua County Events Center in Gainesville, Florida.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | USTFCCCA Scoreboard
Related: National Championships Central

Men’s Recap

Indian Hills (Iowa) CC won its first-ever NJCAA Indoor title without winning a single event. The Warriors – season-long leaders in the national TFRI – had five important runner-up finishes while scoring in 10 events.

Ten individuals and a pair of relays scored for Indian Hills. Traunard Folson was the leading Warrior with 13 points (second in the 60, fourth in the 200) while Tate Joens brought in 12 points with a runner-up weight throw finish along with taking fifth in the shot put. Triston Miller scored 10.5 points in three events (topped by a third in the heptathlon).

Runner-up New Mexico JC had the most event wins with four – two from Tapiwanashe Makarawu in the 60 and 200.

One of the top individual stars was double winner JaQuavious Harris of Salt Lake (Utah) CC, who claimed the 3000 on Friday (7:58.46) and mile on Saturday (4:03.32), each performance putting him No. 3 on the repespective all-time NJCAA lists (he is already NJCAA record holder in the 5000).

The men’s distance medley relay on Friday night was possibly the event of the meet as three teams bettered the NJCAA record of 9:47.17 that had stood since 1993 – Iowa Central CC winning in 9:44.89 over Indian Hills’ 9:45.52 and the 9:46.90 by South Plains (Texas).

Not to be outdone in relay excitement, the 4×800 on Saturday had the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 all-time squads in Cloud County (Kan.) CC 7:32.71, South Plains 7:32.92 and Iowa Central 7:33.09.

Women’s Recap

A tie? It’s really not a surprise when we remember how close the top four programs were in the most recent national TFRI.

When it came on the field of battle, however, No. 2 Barton (Kan.) CC and No. 3 Iowa Western CC were inseparable with 106 points apiece. For the Cougars it was an 18^th time at the top, while the Reivers got their third – all in the last four years.

Barton enjoyed the most wins in the meet – six, led by triple-winner Sanae Hassnaoui in Friday’s 3000 (9:39.57) before the mile (4:47.32) and 1000 meters (2:52.63) on Saturday. How good were those performances? Try No. 4, No. 2 and No. 10, respectively, on the all-time NJCAA list.

Also bringing back gold for the Cougars were Treneese Hamilton in the shot put (16.39m/53-9¼ – No. 2 all-time NJCAA), Chloe Perryman in the long jump (6.14m/20-1¾) and Keliza Smith in the 60 (7.37). Hamilton (weight throw) and Smith (200) and runner-up finishes.

Iowa Western was led by triple jump champ Mercy Honesty (12.47m/40-11) and 400 winner Ethel Amissah (54.26), who also ran on the winning 4×400 relay.

Three other performances rated among the top-3 in NJCAA history: Privillege Chikara of Meridian (Miss.) CC in the 800 (2:08.08 – No. 3 all-time), Asia Foster of Western Texas in the 600 (1:31.92 – No. 3 all-time) and the Cloud County (Kan.) CC 4×800 squad (9:09.97 – No. 2 all-time).