The College of the Ozarks Track teams have worked all season with a primary goal in mind; the NCCAA Nationals meet in May. The Bobcats and Lady Cats have been logging qualifiers all season long and they wrapped up their regular season this past weekend in Baldwin City, KS. The most recent qualifying performances came at the Pittsburg State University meet on April 20 and the Baker University Invitational on Saturday, April 27.

Kristlyn Smith punched her ticket to the National meet in the 100-meter Hurdles with her time of 17.68 at the Pittsburg State University Invitational. Her time was also good for an eighth-place finish in a challenging field. Smith had been close to qualifying several times throughout the season and accomplished the goal in the second to last meet. The Bobcats and Lady Cats traveled to Baldwin City, Kansas for their final meet of the season and several athletes answered the call in their final opportunity to qualify. Emma Godwin and Morgan Wood qualified in the Women’s Long Jump with distances of 4.95m and 5.04m respectively. Praise Phillips qualified in the Women’s Javelin with a distance of 28.89m, and Maddox Nosari punched his ticket in the 400m Hurdles with a time of 1:00.57.

Along with Smith, Wood, Godwin, Phillips and Nosari, the Bobcats and Lady Cats have a lengthy list of  additional qualifiers. Keena Goze and Rebecca Loya qualified in the women’s 5,000m and 10,000m run, Sarah Alferink qualified in the 1500m run, and Maisie Godwin will compete in the Women’s Javelin, along with Praise Phillips. Morgan Wood also qualified in the 400m hurdles for the Lady Cats. On the Bobcat side, Tanner Bailey will compete in both the 5,000m and 10,000m run, and Tucker Ahlers qualified in the Javelin. Drew Rose qualified in the Steeplechase, Chase Larimore in the Pole Vault, and Gavin Fletcher punched his ticket in the Shot Put. With all of the qualifiers and Morgan Wood, Tanner Bailey, Rebecca Loya, and Keena Goze qualifying in multiple events, the Bobcats and Lady Cats will be representing College of the Ozarks in outstanding fashion.

College of the Ozarks Head Track Coach, McKenzie Larkin stated, “I am really proud of our team. They have all worked extremely hard and competed well all season long. We have taken great strides, from having six national qualifying athletes last year, to 13 this year, including several who have qualified in multiple events. Their results speak for themselves and it’s exciting to see hard work, desire, and dedication pay off for this great group of student athletes.”

The Bobcats and Lady Cats will travel to Columbia, South Carolina May 10-12 to compete in the NCCAA National Championship meet.