April 25, 2025
Local NewsState & National

Spartans set two school records at nationals

By SCOTT VICKER

Pictured are members of the Southwestern Community College track and field team that competed at last weekend's NJCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships. Pictured are, from left: Seth Starks, Erik Freed, Jaiden Brown, assistant coach Mark Evans, John Rivan, Michael Flakes, Anthony Simmons, head coach Bill Huntington and Theo Piniau. (Contributed photo)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Southwestern Community College didn’t score any points at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships over the weekend, but the Spartans did come home with a pair of new school records.

That made it a successful weekend, head coach Bill Huntington said.

“With this being the third year of the program, it was by far our best nationals across the board,” Huntington said. “We didn’t score any points, but we exceeded all of our seeds. And really, going down there, that’s what we wanted to do. Plus we had some PRs and some school records. You can’t go wrong when you’re doing that.”

Sophomore Theo Piniau of Papa New Guinea bettered his school record in the 400 meter dash and also ran on the record-breaking 4x400 relay. Both Piniau in the open 400 and the 4x400 relay team placed 16th.

Piniau ran a smoldering 48.99 in the 400 meter dash, improving his previous best indoor time of 50.02.

“He tripped in the third turn,” Huntington said. “He really got kind of stuttered up, otherwise we really think, I’m not going to say he would have went 47.9, but realistically, I think 48.5 would have been right there. We were excited about that. That’s a big-time 400 meter indoor.”

The 4x400 relay team of Erik Freed, Jaiden Brown, Piniau and Anthony Simmons also placed 16th, running a new school-record time of 3:21.46.

Freed, a freshman from Mount Ayr, opened up with a 51-second split, with Brown running the second leg in 51 seconds, as well.

Piniau followed with a split in the mid-49s, with Simmons anchoring in a blistering 48.4.

The team’s previous best this season was 3:26, but the four athletes on the relay had always competed in multiple events before running the relay.

“Some of those guys in the 4x4, they have three races in before we ever get to it. We never had a chance to run it fresh,” Huntington said. “Erik Freed came out and ran a really solid split, especially coming out of the blocks. Anthony was just unreal. He ran us from about sixth to second or third. We ended up in third (in the heat).”

Brown also competed in the 60 meter dash and the 200 meter dash, placing 38th and 39th, respectively, in the two races. His time of 6.99 in the 60 meter dash was a new PR.

John Rivan, who suffered a pulled hamstring two weeks before nationals, pulled up in his heat of the 60 meter dash and finished 50th overall.

“John had a rough go,” Huntington said. “I told him if it (hamstring) starts to pull, let’s shut it down, because we’ve got all of outdoor. I really thought John had a shot at All-American. He was sitting third in the nation at one time. I think he qualified 11th, so we thought he had a shot, but better to be safe than sorry.”

Piniau finished 46th in the 60 meter dash. Seth Starks placed 15th in the high jump with a clearance of 1.98 meters.

Simmons finished 34th in the 600 meters, running 1:29.04.

“I knew he was nervous, I just didn’t know how nervous,” Huntington said about Simmons. “He ran the first 200 in, I had him at like 22.9. So then he crossed the 400 in 50-flat and the bear got on his back and it was horrible.”

Iowa Central freshman Noah Larsen of Mount Ayr finished 25th in the 1,000 meters, running 2:38.34.

NJCAA Indoor Track and Field National Championships

Team standings — 1. South Plains 136, 2. Central Arizona 116, 3. Coffeyville 55, 4. Monroe College 48, 5. Iowa Central 43, 5. Iowa Western 43, 7. Barton County 40, 8. Vincennes 33.5, 9. Western Texas College 33, 10. Cloud County 32.

High jump — 1. Damar Robinson, Cloud County, 2.17 meters; 15. Seth Starks, SWCC, 1.98 meters.

60 meter dash — 1. Odean Skeen, South Plains, 6.56; 38. Jaiden Brown, SWCC, 6.99; 45. Theo Piniau, SWCC, 7.06; 50. John Rivan, SWCC, 9.13.

200 meter dash — 1. Kendrick Smith, Meridian, 21.23; 39. Jaiden Brown, SWCC, 22.30.

400 meter dash — 1. Fred Kerley, South Plains, 47.18; 16. Theo Piniau, SWCC, 48.99.

600 meters — 1. Strymar Livingston, Iowa Western, 1:18.02; 34. Anthony Simmons, SWCC, 1:29.04.

1,000 meters — 1. Josh Thompson, Central Arizona, 2:30.64; 25. Noah Larsen, Iowa Central, 2:38.34.

4x400 relay — 1. Barton County, 3:11.70; 16. Southwestern (Erik Freed, Jaiden Brown, Theo Piniau, Anthony Simmons), 3:21.46.