Broncbusters Earn Seven All-American Performances at NJCAA Outdoor Championships
Photo by: Ed Bailey/Butler Athletics
HOBBS, N.M. – Garden City Community College closed out the 2026 NJCAA Outdoor Track and Field National Championships with multiple All-American performances, school records, and top national finishes across three days of competition at New Mexico Junior College.
The Broncbusters were led by another historic weekend from Meryeme Mai and Naya Jules, who combined for five All-American honors and several school-record performances. The Garden City women finished 11th overall out of 30 scoring teams at the national meet.
Mai opened the championships with a third-place finish in the women's 10,000 meters, setting a new school record with a time of 37:21.07 to earn All-American honors. Jules followed with a fourth-place finish in the women's javelin, breaking her own school record and setting a new personal best with a toss of 44.73 meters.
Garden City also saw strong relay performances on day one. The women's 4x800-meter relay team of Umahan Sahin, Snegugu Mkhize, Maritza Romero, and Jaquelyne Gonzalez finished 15th with a time of 10:57.1, while the men's 4x800 relay team of Landen Leonard, Daniel Aboagye, Andreas Laursen, and Elias Mebitil-Libert placed ninth in 7:35.40.
Additional day one performances included Anesu Makuwatsine finishing ninth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 53.33, Marshea Fisher placing 23rd in the women's 400 meters at 57.60, and Madyson Schreibvogel taking 25th in the women's 400 meters with a time of 1:01.50. Jules also added an 11th-place finish in the pole vault after clearing 3.16 meters.
Day two was highlighted by another record-setting effort from Jules, who completed the heptathlon with a school-record total of 4,559 points to finish fourth overall and earn her second All-American honor of the meet.
Mai advanced to the finals of the women's 1500 meters, while the Broncbusters added several notable performances on the track. Daniel Aboagye placed 20th in the 800 meters with a time of 1:54.60 and later finished 14th in the 1500 meters at 3:56.90. Andreas Laursen ran 1:55.79 in the 800 meters, placing 26th, while Leonard finished 36th in the same event with a time of 1:59.25 before adding a 25th-place finish in the 1500 meters at 4:04.09.
Marius Delchard placed 24th in the 1500 meters with a time of 4:03.34, and Travis Hollins finished 17th in the 110-meter hurdles after crossing in 15.28.
The steeplechase events produced two more All-American finishes for the Broncbusters. Thaddaeus Rotich placed sixth in the men's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 9:49.92, while Reid Harvey-McKean also earned a sixth-place finish in the women's 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 12:20.45. Halima Biggs added a 14th-place finish in the high jump after clearing 1.54 meters.
On the final day of competition, Mai capped off one of the top championship performances in program history. She finished fifth in the 1500-meter finals with a time of 4:41.11 before placing fourth in the 5,000 meters at 18:09.93, securing her third All-American finish of the meet.
Sahin added a 28th-place finish in the women's 5,000 meters with a time of 21:52.96. On the men's side, Rotich finished 28th in the 5,000 meters at 16:21.63, while Elias Mebitil-Libert placed 15th overall with a time of 15:40.62.
Garden City finished the national championships with seven All-American performances from four different athletes. Jules earned All-American honors in both the javelin and heptathlon after placing fourth in each event. Mai collected three All-American finishes in the 10,000 meters, 5,000 meters, and 1500 meters, while Harvey-McKean and Rotich each secured All-American status in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with sixth-place finishes.