NJCAA Championships: Indian River Well On Its Way During Night Three

FORT PIERCE, Florida, March 7. A 34th and 27th straight men's and women's title looks to be a forgone conclusion for Indian River Community College at the National Junior College Athletics Association (NJCAA) Championships.

The IRCC women amassed a three-day tally of 634 points against Monroe Community College's second-place 301. Meanwhile, the men continue to dominate in what amounts to an intrasquad meet for them with a total of 720.5 points. Lincoln College stands second with 321 points.

The IRCC women's 200 medley relay of Shanda Casella, Kalia Martin, Yesica Rojas and Mary O'Sullivan started the night off right with an NJCAA record time of 1:45.27. That readout eclipsed the previous record of 1:45.36 set by IRCC back in 1999.

The men followed with a similar outcome as Roberto Gomez, Emmett Walling, Gordon Touw Ngie Tjouw and Raul Martinez chopped a second off the NJCAA record for IRCC in the 200 medley relay with a time of 1:29.41. Previously, IRCC owned the record with a 1:30.46 from 2003.

After everyone had a chance to catch their breath, Erin Colunga of Darton College did what usually only happens once or twice each year, which is stop IRCC from winning an individual title in an event. Colunga dominated the women's 400 IM with a time of 4:40.66.

Nothing to worry about, though, as Andy Garcia-Montes restored the NJCAA world to the order when he claimed the men's 400 IM title in 4:01.65 for IRCC.

Rojas captured her second title of the evening with a time of 58.08 to win the women's 100 fly for IRCC, while teammate Touw Ngie Tjouw missed his preliminary NJCAA record of 47.10 with a winning time of 47.32. His prelim effort surpassed the 47.69 set by IRCC's Camilo Becerra in 2003.

In the 200 free, O'Sullivan pocketed her second title of the session with a time of 1:52.73 for IRCC, while Louw won the men's title in 1:35.17 to shatter his NJCAA record time of 1:36.93 set during prelims. That performance allowed him to lower his brother's record of 1:37.55 set for IRCC in 1998.

Martin gave IRCC another multiple medalist on the night when she won the 100 breast in 1:07.06, while Walling hit the wall in 54.86 to win the men's 100 breast for IRCC.

Casella added another title to her collection from the meet when she clocked a 58.20 in the women's 100 back, while Joe Taylor of Lincoln College provided the first non-IRCC male title of the meet with a 52.51 in the men's 100 back. He had to work to get it, as Zack Stockman of IRCC finished just behind in 52.53.

Finally, in the 200 free relays, the IRCC team of Casella, O'Sullivan, Katie McRoberts and Cara Potter stopped the clock in 1:35.58, while the men's team of Louw, Walling, Martinez and Gomez punched the wall in 1:19.35 to win the men's heat.

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