The Lady Texan track and field team finished the 2010 season with two relays ranked in the top-10 nationally, while the men finished with one. The list, compiled by Walt Murphy, includes every school that competed in the event regardless of classification.

The Lady Texans NJCAA record 4x200 meter relay team of Janelle Redhead, Jura Levy, Angelique Lykes, and Nicquel Thomas finished sixth in the event behind powerhouse division one sprint schools Texas A&M, Auburn, Louisianna State, Houston, and Clemson. The quartet ran the fastest time in the history of the National Junior College Athletic Association when they clocked a time of 1:33.68 at the Texas Relays, which was quicker than Florida State University and the University of South Carolina, to name a couple.

Redhead and Levy also participated on the school record Sprint Medley Relay team which ranked seventh on the list of schools. The Sprint Medley Relay is composed of legs of 200 meters, 200 meters, 400 meters and 800 meters. Redhead and Levy ran the 200 meter legs while Shakeeri Cole handed the 400 and Lisa Forsberg anchored with the 800 meter leg in a time of 3:50.71, better than Texas Tech and Ohio State.

The Texan men closed out what might possibly be the best ever Texas Relays for South Plains College by obliterating the school record in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:03.74, good for the seventh fastest time in the nation. The team of Isaiah Gill, Troy Faulkner, Anton Kokorin, and Rondell Bartholomew smashed the previous record of 3:06.29 when they dominated the college division.

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The season is long over, yet the awards keep pouring in for South Plains College as six athletes have been named to the 2010 Academic All-American teams. Overall, the Lady Texan team finished sixth in the NJCAA with an overall team grade point average of 3.224.

The Texans and Lady Texans each had a 4.0 student in freshman pole vaulter Kelsi Chadwick and sophomore thrower Dillon Welch. Chadwick is a 2009 graduate of Randall High School in Amarillo who is majoring in accounting. Welch, meanwhile, graduated from Friona High School in 2008 and finished sixth place in the 2010 NJCAA Outdoor Championships competing in the discus throw.

Two-time NJCAA pole vault champion Kelsey Wilson contributed with a grade point average of 3.60, while five-time NJCAA champion Shakeeri Cole had a 3.43.

Anton Kokorin, runner-up in the 400 meter dash and part of the NJCAA champion 4x400 meter relay finished the season with a 3.82 and Daniel Rodriguez, a sophomore from Breckenridge ended his SPC career with a 3.53.

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Kelly Closse, a five-time NJCAA champion while competing as part of the Lady Texan track and field squad, was recently named the recipient of the 2010 Betty Jo Graber award.  The Graber award is given annually to the top NJCAA female student-athlete who best exhibits hard work, discipline, ethics, and excellence in competition.  Closse is now the second Lady Texan to earn the award as Sally Kipyego won it in 2006.

Closse had a distinguished Lady Texan career, winning three NJCAA championships in her freshman year (2008-09) and winning two more this past season.  At the 2009 NJCAA indoor championships hosted by Texas Tech University Closse set a NJCAA record in the shot put and also won the weight throw on her way to being named Field Event Athlete of the Meet.  She then added the outdoor shot put championship to her list of accolades when she won with a meet record throw.

It is very possible Closse would have more than five titles had the SPC track teams competed in the 2010 NJCAA indoor championships.  However, she completed her career as a Lady Texan by repeating as champion in the shot put and added the discus title as well as a third place finish in the hammer throw, scoring 26 points and helping the Lady Texans to a second consecutive NJCAA outdoor championship.

Closse, who owns SPC school records in the indoor shot put and weight throw, as well as the outdoor shot put, discus and hammer throws, will continue her education and athletic career at Texas Tech University.

About the Betty Jo Graber Award
Betty Jo Graber spent 35 years advancing opportunities for women in NJCAA athletics. Along with a successful basketball coaching career at Weatherford College, she was also the Region 5 Women's Director, the NJCAA Women's Basketball Committee Chair and a founding member of the NJCAA Women's Division. Graber is a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in Tennessee. Graber was the perfect model of hard work, discipline, ethics and excellence in community college athletics. This award is given annually to the NJCAA Student-Athlete that best exhibits these traits.

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South Plains College head track and field coach Chris Beene was recently named Coach of the Year for both men and women while his assistant, associate head track and field coach Blaine Wiley, earned the distinction of Men's Assistant Coach of the Year.  The award was voted on by their coaching peers within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) after the Texans and Lady Texans swept the outdoor track and field championships for the second consecutive year.

The 2010 track and field season was a record setting year as the Lady Texans set 14 new school records as well as the NJCAA record in the 4x200 meter relay when Janelle Redhead, Jura Levy, Angelique Lykes and Nicquel Thomas blazed a time of 1 minute, 33.68 seconds at the Texas Relays.  On the men's side, Quincy Wilson broke Glenn Calvert's 26 year old mark in the shot put.  Isaiah Gill, Troy Faulkner, Anton Kokorin and Rondell Bartholomew set a new mark in the 4x400 meter relay with a time of 3:03.74.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. - South Plains College track and field dominated the NJCAA outdoor championships as the Lady Texans won the meet with 192 points and 11 event titles, while the Texans scored 142 points for top honors and took home four event championships.