Photo Caption: Coach Greene and the Mustang women’s 4×800 meter relay team
Published: Wednesday 24th May, 2017
By: T. J. Chapman
Hutchinson , Kansas – Greene and the Mustangs middle distance teams are becoming a wholesome name in the NJCAA circles. Just last week, Greene, the Head Cross Country and Assistant Middle Distance Coach and the Monroe College women’s track & field team competed at the 2017 NJCAA National Championship at the Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson , Kansas. The 4×800 meter relay team set a new outdoor school record.
Greene informed this medium, that Monroe College Mustangs had a few stand-out performances in their last meet outing. According to coach Greene, Mustangs finished fourth overall and matched their highest outdoor season ranking in the program’s history which was recorded a year ago.
The middle distance team coached by Greene accounted for 36 of the 68 points tallied on the day. Mustangs 4×800 meter relay team earned the first of the Mustangs’ several national championship titles last Thursday, (May 17). Dawnel Collymore, Jemima Backman, Nokuthula Dlamini and Susan Ejore claimed the title with a winning time of 9:09.52, setting a new outdoor school record.
Susan Ejore, the Female Track Athlete of the Year by the USTFCCCA, Sophomore and prospective Oregon student etched her name even further in the Monroe book of fame.
It’s no surprise that Ejore ran her fastest time in the 1500-meter preliminaries; that was once a specialty race for coach Greene back in his earlier years. Ejore ran the fastest time of 4:46.35 and then ran a blazing 4:35:62 in the final. Her performance ensured she won the women’s national championships in the 1500m.
Photo Caption: Women’s 4×800 relay team on the podium sporting their package medals
Ejore also competed in the 800 meters, where she won a very close race with a time of 2:10.73. With her previous victories Ejore was the first athlete in program history to win three gold medals at a National Championship.
Ejore was also the only female athlete at the championship to achieve this amazing accomplishment. Ejore stated ” I was focused from the get go I wanted to close out my last year with my team as a champion and redeem myself from my second place finish in the 800m last year I wanted not only to make history but also to make my coaches Shirvon Greene and Lesleigh as well as president Marc Jerome and Monroe College proud”.
Outstanding performances also came from Sophomore and Texas Tech committ Nokuthula Dlamini and freshman, Jemima Backman.
After being a key contributor to the national championship 4×800 meter relay, Greene said, Dlamini came back to finish near the top after being tripped in the 5000 meters. Determined to finish the race, she got up continued more than half the race hurt and still managed a seventh place finish with a time of 18:33.19.
Jemima Backman competed in the 1500m and placed 4th overall with a time of 4:48.52.
When asked what is so special about Kansas, Greene said, “nothing, my team always leave everything out on the track”. In 2015, the Mustang’s men team set a national record at the said meet. Two years o, the women’s team have accomplish the same feat.
Greene insists that great work ethic and students commitment will always yield great results. He stated, “things aren’t always easy in terms of preparation or getting the right results, but strategising and ironing out the kinks always helps”.
©SKN PULSE
