NIACC's Steene ties for 9th in high jump at nationals

HOBBS, N.M. - NIACC's Fabian Steene tied for ninth in the high jump at the NJCAA Division I outdoor track and field championships Friday at the Ross Black Field of Champions on the New Mexico Junior College campus.

The freshman from Gothenburg, Sweden native cleared 6 feet 5 1/2 inches to earn his top 10 finish at the national meet.

Steene owns NIACC's indoor (6 feet, 6 3/4 inches) and outdoor (6-7 3/4) high jump records. Steene set the outdoor school high jump mark at the Grand View Viking Relays on April 28.

Steeen earned USTFCCCA All-American honors in the high jump with a sixth-place finish at the NJCAA national indoor track and field championships in March with a jump of 6-6 1/4.

NIACC freshman Bryson Canton, who prepped at Cedar Rapids Prairie, placed 39th in the 1,500 preliminaries on Friday in a time of 4 minutes, 29.68 seconds.

The Trojans' 4x400-meter relay team of Jacob Vais, Bruce Huggins, Canton and Hugo Massa will run in the preliminaries at 6:25 p.m. (CDT) Friday.

NIACC freshman Josiah Kliment will run the 400-meter hurdles at 3:55 p.m. (CDT) Saturday. Kliment was originally supposed to run in the 400 hurdles preliminaries Thursday evening but the meet was suspended due to lightning.

NIACC's fastest time in the 4x400 this season is 3:26.58 at the regional meet where the Trojans also ran Vais, Huggins, Canton and Massa and placed fourth.

Kliment, who prepped at Northwood-Kensett, owns the NIACC school record in the 400-meter hurdles in a time of 55.46 at the NJCAA Region 11 championships on May 7 in Council Bluffs. Kliment broke his old school mark of 55.52 set at the Jim Duncan Invitational on April 14.