05/31/12

Story by Tyler Cundith

Track – JCCC athletes headed to USA Junior Nationals

OVERLAND PARK, KS – Three current members of the Johnson County Community College track and field team, and three incoming freshmen have posted qualifying marks in their respective events for the 2012 USA Junior National Championships, June 15-17 in Bloomington, Ind. The best high school standouts and the most promising college freshmen America has to offer will face off at the Robert C. Haugh Track and Field Complex on the campus of Indiana University attempting to qualify for the IAAF World Junior Championship in Barcelona, Spain, July 10-15.   

Hayes Grissom (Shawnee Mission West H.S., Overland Park, Kan.), Marquel Nickens (Shawnee Mission South H.S., Overland Park, Kan.) and Mark Sitek (Louisburg H.S., Louisburg, Kan.) are the three current members who qualified. Naron Rollins (Platte City H.S., Platte City, Mo.), Nick Ramirez (Clinton H.S., Clinton, Mo.) and Maddie Osmundson (Blue Valley H.S., Stilwell, Kan.) are the future freshmen to earn a spot to compete at junior nationals. 

The junior classification is limited to athletes who are 14 years or older on the day of the competition and will not become 20 years of age at any time during the year of the competition (2012). 

Grissom qualified in the javelin with a mark of 211-11 at the Kansas Relays last April, which earned him an 11th place finish overall. Grissom recently earned NJCAA and Coaches All-American after placing second with a mark of 209-1 at the NJCAA Outdoor Championships. That effort also was a qualifying mark for the junior national meet. 

Nickens earned his spot at the meet when he finished the 400-meter hurdles in 53.49 in the preliminary round at the NJCAA Outdoor Championships. That time ranks as the fourth fastest recorded in team history. He went on to place seventh in the final with a time of 54.71, earning Coaches All-America honors. 

Sitek, one of the JCCC’s leading sprinters this season, posted his qualifying mark at the first outdoor meet of the season, finishing the 200-meters in 21.15 to place second at the University of Arkansas Invitational. 

Rollins recorded the fastest 200-meter time in the state of Missouri when he won the Class 3A state title last week in 21.14 seconds, breaking his previous best mark of 21.44. Rollins also placed second in the 100-meters with a time of 10.66, which also earned him a spot at the junior national meet. 

Ramirez, one of the top prep triple jumpers in the country, leaped 48-2 at the Missouri 3A State Meet to place second overall, and qualify for junior nationals by 1-0.25 inches. He was the state champion his junior year. Amazingly, he has only competed in track and field two seasons. 

Osmundson recently placed fourth in the javelin and sixth in the discus at the Kansas 5A State Championships, but earned her spot at junior nationals earlier this season when she posted a mark in the javelin of 142-9 to win the Kansas Track and Field Classic at Emporia State University.

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