Aaliyah Treat captures the national title in the pole vault; Lady Tigers place 9th as a team

The Lady Tigers earned big points from the pole vault squad, who finished with all three athletes placing on the podium. Along with Treat, Ke'Mauria Burnham had an impressive tie for second place, only three weeks removed from a concussion, and Elizabeth Brozek also earned All-American honors by placing eighth.

"Aaliyah won the event on her final attempt, catapulting her from fourth to first," Cowley head coach Cameron Rieth said. "The girl has ice flowing through her veins and is cool under pressure. It was a massive showing by our ladies in the vault and for Coach Parker Ray. They battled through some adversity and still got it done."

Euvia Bennett also scored major points for the Lady Tigers, spread across three events. The distance medley relay team (Bennett, Grace Knight, Zuzana Bokova, Linda Filipova) placed eighth, and the 4x800-meter relay team finished fourth (Bennett, Bokova, Marta Herrero-Lombardo, Filipova), each garnering All-American honors. Bennett came back to run and narrowly missed Courtney Griffiths' 800-meter school record (2:13.93) by 0.05 seconds on her fourth race of the weekend. 

"We have asked a lot of Euvia over the course of these last few weeks," Rieth said. "I am proud of how she and the other girls have handled it. It culminated in a stellar national championship meet for her. Her unselfishness and grit played a massive part in how our ladies finished this weekend."

Kennedy Khamvongsa matched her school record time in the 60-meter hurdles(8.72) during the prelims on Friday to punch her ticket to the final on Saturday, where she finished eighth and earned her first All-American honors in her young career.

Parker Ray was named the Women's USTFCCCA Central Region Assistant Coach of the year for his efforts.

"There is no one in our region who deserves it more," Rieth said. "His ladies' group has been a huge part of our team's total success this year. It is always a good thing to see our coaches get recognized for their hard work."

Iowa Western won its third consecutive women's indoor national championship.

While the Tiger men did not score at nationals, Cowley sophomore Cooper Leonard had a personal best in the shot put to earn a trip to the finals, where he finished ninth.

The Barton County men claimed their first indoor national title since 2010, edging New Mexico Junior College.

"Finishing in the Top 10 at the national meet is always a goal for us, every year," Rieth said. "Our ladies were able to get it done. On the guys' side, we have some work to do. We had solid performances, but were just a dollar short on several instances. We will rebound from this and keep building for outdoor, aiming to have a better showing as a team."