Two Roadrunners earn All-American accolades

Hobbs, N.M.-The State Fair Community College (SFCC) Roadrunners track and field team sent three student-athletes to compete in the NJCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships hosted by New Mexico Junior College on May 14-16 in Hobbs, N.M.

Sophomore Joseph Bland of Versailles, Mo. finished fifth in the shot put with a throw of 16.59 meters on his first attempt of the competition to earn All-American honors on Friday, May 15.

"Joe Bland competed in the men's shot put and absolutely showed up and showed out," said assistant coach Kellin Loch. " His first throw was a 1.3m PR and earned an All-American award. Joe is another athlete who works incredibly hard at his craft and his fifth place  finish is well deserved. We're extremely proud of him."

Freshman Tony Linhart of Milan, Mo. finished 12^th in the decathlon, with a score of 5,431 points. The Decathlon consisted of 10 events over two days.

"Tony Linhart represented State Fair while competing in the Decathlon. This was a very taxing event for the young men as they were competing in 10 different events across 2 days in 95-degree weather," said Loch. "Tony PR'd in seven of the 10 events he competed in showing how resilient he is and his durability and ability to handle stress and heavy workloads. While we saw good results from a significant portion of his individual events, unfortunately, an injury to his hip took him out of the last event."

On Saturday, sophomore Zeshaun Ballance-Gray of Kansas City, Mo. picked up a second All-American honor for the Roadrunners. Ballance-Gray finished eighth in the triple jump with a jump of 14.91 meters.

"Zeshaun Balance-Gray had some great jumps, gliding down the runway to a new PR and an All-American award," said placing eight  in the men's triple jump," said Loch. " He's put in a lot of work over the past two years and it's a great feeling seeing the hard work pay off with some hardware at his last meet."

As a team, SFCC finished 26^th with five team points at the NJCAA Outdoor National Championships.

David Rohrbach

SFCC Athletics