History was made Thursday afternoon by the Chaparral men's track and field team.
 
The Chaparrals, under head coach Robert Cervenka, captured the 2021 NJCAA Division III Track and Field Championship, held at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas. The Chaps won the title with 185 points, 15 better than runner-up Howard (Md.) Community College.
 
It was a dominant performance by the Chaps, who had 11 athletes compete in the meet. Nine of the 11 either won individual titles or ran on championship relay teams. And all 11 scored points in the meet.
 
Cervenka figured that his team had the potential to hit 187 points if everything went just right.
 
He'll take being off by two.
 
"When you consider everything that we as a program — men and women — went through this year with COVID, I couldn't be prouder. We represented COD in a great manner.''
 
The championship was COD's first for any men's team since the 2010 track team. It is the fifth national title in men's track and field — tied with men's tennis for the most for a male program at COD.
 
It is the 17th overall men's title in school history and along with the women's title today, marks 34 overall titles (men and women) in COD history.
 
Winning individual titles were: Timmy Szylak (110 hurdles, 400 hurdles), Jackson Bukala (3,000 steeplechase), Sam Tumilty (long jump) and Brendan Hill (pole vault).
 
The Chaps swept the three relay races — 4 x 100 (Chase Hall, Hill, Szylak, Tumilty), 4 x 400 (Hill, Deonte Samuel, Sebastian Esparza and Tumilty) and the 4 x 800 (Esparza, Freddy Munoz, Aidan Ihms and Bukala).
 
NJCAA Division III Championship
South Plains College — Levelland, Texas 
May 11-13, 2021
Men's Final Team Scores
1. Chaparrals 185, 2. Howard 170, 3. Mineral Area 115, 4. Mohawk 54, 5. Herkimer 28.
 
Chaparral men
100 — 2. Chase Hall 11.17
200 — 2. Chase Hall 22.39, 4. Sam Tumilty 22.86
400 — 2. Sam Tumilty, 53.13; 4. Sebastian Esparza, 53.88.
800 — 3. Sebastian Esparza 2:02.18, 4. Jackson Bukala 2:05.97, 6. Aidan Ihms 2:12.50
1500 — 3. Jackson Bukala 4:20.51, 5. Aidan Ihms 4:23.42
5000 — 4. Jackson Bukala 17:15.65, 6. Freddy Munoz 17:43.11
3000 steeplechase — 1. Jackson Bukala 11:01.53
10,000 — 7. Freddy Munoz 37:50.63
110 hurdles — 1. Timmy Szylak 15.67
400 hurdles — 1. Timmy Szylak, 1:00.76; 3. Deonte Samuel, 1:05.97
4 x 100 relay — 1. 43.59 (Chase Hall, Brendan Hill, Timmy Szylak, Sam Tumilty)
4 x 400 relay — 1. 3:30.16 (Brendan Hill, Deonte Samuel, Sebastian Esparza, Sam Tumilty)
4 x 800 relay — 1. 8:34.65 (Sebastian Esparza, Freddy Munoz, Aidan Ihms, Jackson Bukala)
Long jump — 1. Sam Tumilty, 6.07m/19-11; 2. Ryan Calhoun, 6.02m/19-9.
Triple jump — 2. Ryan Calhoun 12.47/40-11
Pole vault — 1. Brendan Hill, 4m/13-1 ½
Shot put — 6. Timmy Szylak 9.01 m/29-6 ¾, 7. Sam Tumilty 7.89m/25-10 ¾
High jump — 3. Pryce Giwa-Osagie 1.78m/5-10
Javelin — 2. Sam Tumilty 37.8m/124-0, 3. Timmy Szylak 36.06m/118-4
Discus — 4. Pryce Giwa-Osagie 18.27m/59-11