Tri-C Indoor Track Athletes to Compete at Nationals

Five individuals and two relay teams qualified for championships

The Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) women’s track team qualified five individual student-athletes and two relay teams to this week’s NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Kansas.

Individuals representing Tri-C will be:
• Rashida Harris: Shot put and 20-pound weight throw
The sophomore from Euclid holds the school record in both events. In the shot put, she has posted the third-longest throw in the nation this season. She ranks sixth in the weight throw.
• Amber Ruiz-Bueno: 600-meter and 1,000-meter runs
The sophomore from Willowick ranks fourth nationally in the 1,000 and 11th in the 600. She set school indoor records this season in the 600- and 800-meter runs.
• Caroline Lapish: 3,000-meter run
The freshman from Madison enters the event with the nation’s 21st fastest time.
• Maria Curren: 5,000-meter run
The sophomore from Marion, Ohio, was the regional champion in the 5K.
• Mariah Porter: 20-pound weight throw
The sophomore from Wickliffe placed third in the event at regionals.

Ruiz-Bueno and Lapish will be joined by Sonnie Sauvinsky (freshman/Rootstown) and Naleta Andrews (freshman/Shaker Heights) on the College’s distance medley relay team. The distance medley covers 4,000 meters, or approximately 2.5 miles.

Tri-C also qualified a team in the 4x400-meter relay. Running for the Challengers will be Ruiz-Bueno, Andrews, Aarionna Banks (sophomore/Parma) and Shelbie Sporcich (freshman/Ashtabula).
The National Junior College Athletic Association Indoor Track and Field Championships will take place Friday and Saturday (March 3-4) at the Robert W. Plaster Center in Pittsburg, Kansas.

February 27, 2017

John Horton, 216-987-4281 john.horton@tri-c.edu