Butler Track and Field Prepped for Region VI Indoor Championships

EL DORADO, Kan. – Butler track and field is set to compete in the Region Vi Indoor Championships, hosted at Pittsburg State's Robert W Plaster Center on Saturday and Sunday.

Butler's BCTV will be streaming the meet which can be watched at ButlerGrizzlies.com/WatchLive or on the BCTV+ app. Live results can be found at MidwestTiming.com. The women's pentathlon begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday and the men's heptathlon follows at 9:30 a.m. The running events begin at 4 p.m. and go until 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Day two on Sunday sees running events commence at 10 a.m. with the last event starting at 3:55 p.m.

The Grizzlies enter the meet coming off a solid performance at the Tyson Invitational, hosted by the University of Arkansas. They saw some of the top NCAA D1 performers at the meet and should be well prepared to compete in Pittsburg.

"Overall, I feel like we are prepared and know what we have to do," said head coach Greg Franklin. "It gets no bigger than Arkansas, so I feel like that meet helped us be prepared for any moment."

The Grizzlies bring in some top NJCAA performers that have qualified for nationals already. They will look to shore up their preparation ahead of NJCAA Nationals in Gainesville, Fla. on March 1st and 2nd.

"Going in the goal is to push to win the region," said Franklin. "Mentally, everyone must suck it up and lock in. No matter if you're competing in multiple events or just one, you have to execute the plan and stay sharp mentally."

Andre Morrison holds the top 60m mark in the NJCAA this season, running 6.60 at the Pittsburg State Invitational on Jan. 27th. With him holding that time at the same venue where the region meet is being held, Morrison should be in the mix to win a region title.

Eddy Vu is not far behind Morrison, running 6.66 for the fourth best mark in the NJCAA this season. Jonathan Farinha is the other Grizzly to have qualified for nationals in the 60m, running 6.83 in Washburn earlier this season.

Farinha will play a key part in the Grizzlies quest for a region title. He holds the ninth best NJCAA time in the 200m (21.21) as well as being the anchor on the fifth best NJCAA 4x400m relay.

On the women's side, Butler will be without star freshman Kayveonna Jackson who is tending to an injury, trying to be healed up for NJCAA Nationals in which she has already qualified for the 60m (7.53) and the 200m (24.83).

On the distance/mid-distance side for the women, Trishanie Warner has been strong in the 400m this season, holding the 13th best time in the NJCAA (56.68). Star Mpama recently broke the Butler indoor women's school record in the 800m at the Tyson Invitational, running 1:16.53. She will look to carry that momentum towards the region meet as she also is a key piece of the women's 4x400m relay that has qualified for NJCAA Nationals. Khloi Bird will be important for the Butler women as she has performed well in the mile, 3000m and 500m this season, qualifying for nationals in all.

On the men's distance/mid-distance side, Bennett Feldenkirchen (1:20.44 600y), Abdelhakim Boukhiar (1:53.50 800m) and Adem Bouldjadj (4:16.80 mile) all figure to compete well as they are all national qualifiers.

Braylon Buchanan has struggled with injuries this season but should be good to go for the region meet. He is a national qualifier in the high jump (2.00m, 14th best NJCAA mark) and will be in the mix on Saturday.

 The Grizzlies will be searching for their first indoor Region VI title since the men won the region in 2017 for a second straight season. The Butler men finished as indoor runners-up in 2022.