STORM LAKE - The Iowa Central men's and women's indoor track and field teams picked up two silvers here during the Region XI Championships.
Iowa Western won both the men's and women's team titles, with the Tritons right behind. Indian Hills was third in both with Hawkeye placing fourth.
Eight more national championship bids were punched during the two-day meet, including a pair by Nikiwe Mongwe in the 60 and 200. Jade Jackson (Pentathlon), Yared Kidane (1,000), James MacKey Jr. (weight throw), Nico Paletti (Heptathlon), Camron Ventura (Heptathlon) and Taylor McCreedy (1,000) also earned automatic qualifying spots.
Jade Durfey in the pole vault is now ranked fourth in program history and Roman Kuleshov is sixth in the long jump. Paletti ranks ninth in the pole vault.
"We knew going into the meet what the form charts projected for both teams, but our men and women came out this weekend and went toe-to-toe with some of the top teams in the nation," said Nick Ekel, head coach. "We are so proud of how our students competed and their experience will be critical to the growth of our program.
"We are excited for the opportunity to get back to work these two weeks prior to the national championship."
Chloe Garcia Grafing was first in the 1,000 with McCreedy right behind. Garcia Grafing also added a second in the mile.
Adeyah Brewster captured the 60-meter hurdle title and the 4x800 relay of Kate Miron, Zinash Valen, Josie Stackis and Shaunti Longfellow finished first.
Longfellow, Nyadhol Thichiot, Britney Brown and Garcia Grafing won the distance medley with Durfey claiming the pole vault and Victoria Adu the weight throw.
Tafari Bishop was the 600-meter run champion, the 4x800 relay of Ayenew Devany, Rocharn Wilson, Isaac Davis and Cassius Havis placed first, Paletti won the pole vault over Aries Scott and Martin Lamou claimed the triple jump.
Paletti also won the Heptathlon with Ventura coming in second.
"Our athletes always rise to the challenge at the Region XI Championships," said Dee Brown, executive director. "It may be a smaller meet, but these teams really bring out the competitiveness in each other. We were hoping to add a couple more titles to our storied program, but ultimately we fell a bit short. It was not for a lack of effort.
"We had some amazing performances all around from each of our event groups and we are extremely proud of our squads. We look forward to resting up and preparing for the national championships in two weeks."
The NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships take place March 4-5 in Pittsburg, Kansas.
-By Dana Becker