NIACC set to compete at nationals

HOBBS, N.M. - The NIACC men's track and field team will compete in four events at the NJCAA Division I championships Thursday through Saturday at the Ross Black Field of Champions on the New Mexico Junior College campus.

NIACC freshman Josiah Kliment will run the 400-meter hurdles prelimiaries at 9:15 p.m. (CDT) Thursday.

NIACC freshman Fabian Steene will compete in the high jump at noon (CDT) Friday.

NIACC freshman Bryson Canton will run in the 1,500 preliminaries at 2:15 p.m. (CDT) Friday. 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.

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.

Steene, who is from Gothenburg, Sweden, 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.

Canton, who prepped at Cedar Rapids Prairie, has a personal best time of 4 minutes, 6.72 seconds in the 1,500. The 4:06.72 ranks sixth on NIACC's all-time 1,500 list.

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