Morfin leads Tigers to third-place finish in the conference

With Cowley College freshman Victor Morfin winning the conference and region title in the high jump, the Tigers placed third in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division and fifth in the region while competing at the conference/region championships in Pittsburg, KS.

Morfin recorded a mark of 6-6 ¼ to win the high jump.

"Victor is really maturing as an athlete," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said. "He has surpassed what we thought he would do, which is a testament to his hard work.'

Miquel Cruz and Mason Bickle also performed well in the 3,000-meter run, as did Julien Washington and Jacob Creswell in the weight throw.

The Tiger men finished in a very close battle for third place in the conference and ended up eighth in the Region.

"We fought hard for every single point we got," Rieth said. "We did not have a bad meet all together, but other teams just had a better one. Our men were in the mix for the entire meet, and only late did the other two teams barely pull ahead of us. We have a really young team, and  I am excited about what the men's team can become for the outdoors. We just need to keep showing up and working."

Cloud County placed first in the region in both the men's and women's standings.

Cowley's Parker Ray was named the Region VI Assistant Men's Coach of the Year.

"Coach Ray is not afraid to put in the work, and it shows with his athletes," Rieth said. "As a program and coaching staff, we are very thankful to have him around."

Region results:

*60-meter hurdles – Dagen Geier, 8.87, 18^th; Ivan Seonane-Alonso, 10.24, 24^th.

*60-meter dash – Davonte Pruitt, 6.91, 15^th; Logan Tyler, 7.23, 29^th; Siyabonga Jiyane, 7.24, 32^nd.

*400-meter dash – Jiyane, 50.50, 16^th; Miguel Garcia-Redondo, 53.03, 36^th.

*Mile run – Austin Schaeffer, 4:21.88, eighth; Pedro Balestrini. 4:24.89, 11^th; Manuel Leos, 4:41.34, 15^th.

*600-meter run – Esther Vazquez, 1:52.46, 16^th.

*1,000-meter run –Balestrini, 2:37.30, eighth; Deshawn Douglas, 2:38.41, 11^th.

*3,000-meter run – Miquel Cruz, 8:47.10, fifth; Mason Bickle, 8:47.86, eighth; Schaeffer, 9:13.46, 14^th.

*4x400-meter relay – Cowley A (Jiyane, Kollin Gretencord, Badia, Garcia-Redondo), 3:27.67, 10^th.

*Distance Medley Relay – Cowley A (Pedro Balestrini, Nahuel Aguerrebehere-Badia, Randy Rojas-Mendez, Austin Schaeffer), 10:26.41, fifth.

*Pole vault – Riley Hunter, 15-2 ¾, second; Randall Coble, 13-7, fourth; Keegan Beaver, 11-9 ¼, seventh.

*Shot put – Brett Clevenger, 45-3 ¾, eighth; Jacob Haney, 37-0, 18^th; Jacob Creswell, 35-8 ¼, 19^th.

*Long jump – Alex Delgado del Castillo, 20-11 ½, 15^th; Malik Wood, 20-6, 19^th; Nicolas Tornay, 19-10 ½, 22^nd.

*High jump – Victor Morfin, 6-6 ¼, first, conference and region champion; Ranaldo Hanna, 6-0 ½, 13^th; Bauer, 5-6 ½, 19^th.

*Triple jump – Ranaldo Hanna, 42-11, 13^th; Tornay, 37-9 ¼, 19^th.

*Weight throw – Julien Washington, 52-4, sixth; Jacob Creswell, 50-1, eighth; Jacob Haney, 48-6, 11^th.

*Heptathlon – Garrah Bauer, 4,142 points, 10^th; Dagen Geier, 4,047 points, 11^th; Alex Delgado Castillo, 3,956.