NJCAA Region 5 - News

[Track and Field] NMJC Lady T-Birds Win Share of NJCAA Indoor National Championship

Joe Walker — 2010-03-09T13:59:24-06:00

The NMJC Lady T-Birds made history this past weekend at the NJCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The team brought home the first ever title for Women's Track and Field at NMJC.

Right from the start the meet turned into an epic battle between two great teams, NMJC and Iowa Central Community College. After nineteen of the twenty events NMJC trailed Iowa Central by two points. In the final event, the 4 x 400 meter relay, NMJC finished with second place for 8 points while Iowa Central came away with third good for six points. This left the score tied at 115 points and since there is no tie breaker in Indoor Track this gave both schools a share of the National Title.

Leading the way for the Lady T-birds was Caroline Jepleting. Caroline brought home the gold in three individual events and one relay. For her great performances Caroline was named the NJCAA Female Track Runner of the Year. Also scoring ten or more points for the team were Keno Heavens, Olivia Lewis (who was 400 meter National Champion), Jordan Brown and Yolanda Suggs.

Overall the team finished with eight National Champions, twenty three All-Americans, and six school records.

For an outstanding coaching job, Head Coach Keith Blackwill was awarded the Co-National Coach of the Meet!!

[Track and Field] NMJC's Jepleting Earns Leaders for Life Program Award

Joe Walker — 2010-03-09T09:31:52-06:00

Caroline Jepleting; New Mexico Junior College
Sport: Cross Country/Track
GPA: 3.35

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Caroline Jepleting of New Mexico Junior College has earned the NJCAA Leaders for Life Student-Athlete of the Week honor.

Jepleting is a team leader for both the cross country and track & field teams at New Mexico Junior College and is always referred to as encouraging and supportive.

Jepleting is from Kosirai, Kenya where she attended the Kapkenda Girls High School before becoming a student at NMJC.

She spends some of her free time volunteering at high school cross country meets and at a local nursing home as an assistant to the activities director.

Her long list of athletic achievements include: three-time Indoor National Champion in the Distance Medley Relay, Mile, and the 1,000 M; four-time Indoor All-American in the Distance Medley Relay, Mile, 1,000 M and 4x400 Relay; three time outdoor All-American in the 800, 1,500, and 5,000; and the 2009 Cross Country National Champion.

While her list of accomplishments athletically is outstanding, she also has strong discipline in the classroom. The Kenya native is a member of the NMJC Fall 2009 Presidents Honor Roll (4.0 GPA) and is on course to earn NJCAA Academic All-American honors.

Outside of being a dominant runner and a driven individual academically, Jepleting is also very passionate about her faith as she is an active member of Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

When her time is up at NMJC, she plans to continue running competitively at a four year university and pursue a nursing degree. Once she has accomplished these things, her next course of action will be to go back to her home country of Kenya and use her degree to help.

Click here to view entire article from the NJCAA website

[Region V] Region 5 Basketball Tournament Will be Streamed Online

Joe Walker — 2010-03-01T11:33:26-06:00

Click here to watch a live video stream of the Region 5 Championship games!

3:00 p.m. Click here for LIVE STATS of Midland vs Howard men

5:30 p.m. Click here for LIVE STATS of South Plains vs Midland women

Region 5 director John Green recently announced an agreement with Panhandle Sports Broadcasting Live to video stream all games of the 2010 Region 5 men's and women's basketball tournaments held at Lubbock Christian University March 4-7 at Lubbock Christian University's Rip Griffin Center and hosted by the Lubbock Sports Authority.

"This partnership will allow the basketball programs from the WJCAC and NTJCAC advancing to the tournament to showcase their basketball talents for anyone in the world to see. Anybody, anywhere will have the ability to watch the players from the best region in the NJCAA," said Green.

The live video stream for the Region 5 tournament can be accessed at www.psblive.com.

Tickets for fans making the trip to Lubbock can be purchased at the gate for $7 (adults) and $4 (seniors and students). Tournament passes are also available at the rate of $20 (adults) and $12 (seniors and students).

Tournament programs will be on sale during the event for $2 and Region 5 Championship t-shirts can be purchased for $10.

Click here to view men's bracket

Click here to view men's scores

Click here to view women's bracket

Click here to view women's scores

Click here to view additional Region 5 Championship information

Click here to watch Region 5 games LIVE!
*just scroll down to the date and click the game you wish to view

[Women's Basketball] SPC, Hill Basketball Promote Breast Cancer Awareness

Joe Walker — 2010-02-15T14:36:43-06:00

Coaches Aaron Kallhoff and Michelle Wyatt are doing their part to raise awareness for breast cancer.

Kallhoff's team, the Hill College Lady Rebels, wore pink warm-up shirts in their games last week and also utilized a fundraiser of sorts when he sold the pink shirts to faculty, staff and students around campus with the proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.

"We wanted to do our part around here to help raise awareness for breast cancer," stated Kallhoff. "It created quite a buzz around campus which is exactly what raising awareness is all about!"

Meanwhile, coach Wyatt's South Plains College Lady Texans will be wearing pink t-shirts tonight when they host the Odessa College Lady Wranglers at 5:45 p.m. SPC teamed up with Covenant Hospital of Levelland who will be raffling off a Sony Blu-ray player tonight to raise money to provide mammograms for women in need living in the Hockley County area.

"The importance of getting annual mammograms is essential in the fight against breast cancer," says Kathy McDonald of Levelland's Covenant Hospital. "Every woman should be able to get a screening mammogram once a year if her physician deems it necessary regardless of financial situation. Covenant Hospital Levelland is committed to helping women from Hockley County obtain screening mammograms and raise awareness about breast health."

[Men's Basketball] Region 5 Teams Rank Among NJCAA's Best

Joe Walker — 2010-02-04T09:39:59-06:00

Four mens basketball teams rank among the best in the NJCAA, according to the latest NJCAA poll released February 2.

Midland College (23-0, 7-0) tops all teams in the NJCAA, coming in at number one for the eighth consecutive time since November 24th. The Chaps face Frank Phillips College tonight in Midland.

Howard College (19-2, 6-1) moves up a spot to number six to mark their fifth consecutive week in the top 10.

McClennan Community College (21-3, 7-1) ranks 13th in the NJCAA and Odessa College rounds out the Region 5 teams sitting 17th nationally.

These teams look to set the stage for a competitive Region 5 tournament held in Lubbock, Texas scheduled May 4-7, 2010, hosted by Lubbock Christian University. Tournament information, including brackets and game times, can be found by clicking here.

[Softball] Two Region 5 Softball Teams Enter Season with top 20 Rankings

Joe Walker — 2010-01-30T10:41:17-06:00

The first softball poll is out and two Region 5 softball teams enter the season with high expectations.

Coach Tommy Ramos' Lady Chaps of Midland College enter the season ranked ninth in the National Junior College Athletic Conference while rival Odessa College enters the season 19th nationally.

Odessa begins their season today with a tournament in Tucson, Ariz. while Midland begins with a February 5th date with Our Lady of the Lakes.

[Baseball] Howard College Ranks Fourth in First NJCAA Baseball Poll

Joe Walker — 2010-01-30T10:36:04-06:00

Defending NJCAA baseball champions, Howard College, enters the 2010 baseball season ranked fourth in the initial National Junior College Athletic Conference poll recently released. The Hawks set a national record last season with a 57 game winning streak and finished with a record of 63 wins and only 1 loss.

The Hawks will begin their season today in San Antonio with a double-header versus Wharton Junior College.

[Region V] WJCAC Basketball Games Rescheduled Due to Weather

Joe Walker — 2010-01-28T13:28:18-06:00

Two Western Junior College Athletic Conference games have been postponed due to extreme weather that is causing hazardous driving conditions.

South Plains College will travel to Roswell, N.M. Friday, January 29th for a 3 p.m. matchup with the New Mexico Military Institute Broncos, while New Mexico Junior College has rescheduled their men's and women's games with Frank Phillips College for 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday, January 30th in Borger.

[Women's Basketball] SPC's Griffin Named NJCAA Player of the Week

Joe Walker — 2010-01-27T19:44:06-06:00

Sajoyia Griffin, a 5'5" guard from Universal City, Texas, helped the Lady Texans to two more wins this week. On Jan. 18, in a 74-52 win over Western Texas, she scored 23 points on 8 of 15 from the field and 4 of 6 from behind the three-point line. In that win, she also recorded seven rebounds, three assists, one steal, and went 3-3 from the charity stripe. Three days later in a 54-53 win over #14 Odessa (Texas), Griffin scored 18 points on 5 of 11 shooting and 5 of 7 from downtown. Also in that game, she grabbed nine boards, had four assists, three steals, and shot 3-5 from the free-throw line. In the week she averaged 20 points, 46 percent from the field (19-41) including 60 percent from outside (12-20), 83 percent from the line (10-12), seven rebounds, three assists, and 2.3 steals.

[Volleyball] Odessa College Announces the Addition of Volleyball in 2011

Joe Walker — 2010-01-27T10:24:00-06:00

ODESSA, Texas - Odessa College athletic director Wayne Baker recently announced the addition of volleyball to the Lady Wrangler athletic program to begin in fall 2011. This was approved by the Board of Regents on Monday evening, January 25.

"We are thrilled to have another WJCAC team participate in the sport of volleyball. This will bring the total number of teams to six," said WJCAC commissioner John Green.

Teams currently participating in volleyball are Clarendon College, Frank Phillips College, Midland College, New Mexico Military Institute, and Western Texas College.

[Women's Basketball] FPC's Aguilar Named NJCAA Player of the Week

Joe Walker — 2010-01-21T14:28:25-06:00

Nancy Aguilar, a 5'10" Guard/Forward/Post from El Paso, Texas chalked up three double-doubles this week helping Frank Phillips College earn three wins. On Jan. 11 the Plainsmen earned a big win over nationally ranked #6 Midland College (Texas) where Aguilar recorded a double-double by scoring 19 on 7-of 16 shooting, dished out three assists, had 4 steals and pulled down 10 rebounds. In the 63-56 win over Western Texas College she was 5-of-12 from the field scoring 15 points with four assists, five steals, and 11 rebounds. Two days later in a 77-66 win against the U.S. Air Force Prep (Colo.), she scored 14 on 5-of-9 from the field with four assists, five steals, 11 rebounds and went 3-for-4 form the free throw line. Aguilar's impressive totals from the week were 48 overall points shooting 45.9 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc, 57.9percent from the charity stripe, 9 assists, 13 steals, and 33 rebounds

[Women's Tennis] Two Bronco Women Netters Nationally Ranked

Joe Walker — 2009-12-15T09:31:18-06:00

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association has released it's pre-season rankings for NJCAA women's tennis. The second-year New Mexico Military Institute women's tennis program, under head coach Zeljka Vidic, has posted one singles player and one doubles team on the vaunted list:

• NMMI Freshman Karla Martinez, from Gomez Palacio, Mexico, is ranked No.12 in the nation among NJCAA Division 1 women's tennis players.
• Martinez and her doubles partner Akanesi Fa, a sophomore from Suva, Fiji, have been tagged as the No. 9 tandem in the nation going into the Spring 2010 season.

The ITA periodically ranks NJCAA men's and women's tennis, listing the top 25 teams, top 100 singles players and top 40 doubles teams in the nation. The rankings listed above come from their most recent posting, released Nov. 6th, 2009, and can be viewed in it's entirety via the link below:

NJCAA Women's National Rankings

NJCAA Men's National Rankings

[Region V] Former FPC & SPC Cowboys Compete at NFR

Joe Walker — 2009-12-15T08:17:52-06:00

Rodeo standouts Josh Peek, formerly of Frank Phillips College and Adam Gray, formerly of South Plains College both competed well at the National Finals Rodeo held December 3-12 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Peek finished as the Wrangler NFR All-Around champion. For the 10 round event he finished fifth in the average in both steer wrestling and tie down roping, and won two of the rounds of the tie down event, while Gray finished just behind Peek in sixth place of tie down roping.

Peek finishes the year ranked second in the world with all-around earnings totaling over $224,000.00. Gray ends the 2009 rodeo season ranked 13th in the world in tie down roping having earned just under $110,000.00 for the year.

[Volleyball] Region 5 Volleyball Players Named NJCAA All-Americans

Joe Walker — 2009-12-08T13:40:10-06:00

Click Here to View Award Page for Volleyball

	Name	Class	School	Hometown
M	Delores Alaimaleata	SO	NMMI	Pago Pago, As
S/RS	Viktorija Jablonska	FR	Frank Phillips	Daugavpils, Latvia
OH	Anzelika Lukjanska	SO	Frank Phillips	Daugavpils, Latvia
Hon. Mention MB	Kelsey Marek	FR	Temple	Taylor, Texas

[Volleyball] Brookhaven's Hopkins Honored by AVCA

Joe Walker — 2009-12-04T16:04:53-06:00

Jason Hopkins has continued to build a dynasty with the Brookhaven College volleyball team. Hopkins led the team to a perfect record in division play throughout the year, clinching the Metro Athletic Conference Championship and an overall record of 29-10. Hopkins guided the Lady Bears to their second straight national championship, which is their fourth NJCAA Division III title in the past six years. Hopkins was also named the NJCAA Division III Coach of the Year while producing the NJCAA Division III MVP along with two Division III All-Tournament Team selections. This is the first time Hopkins has been named the AVCA Two-Year College Southwest Region Coach of the Year.

Additionally, Sarah Terry was named to the first team NJCAA All-American team.