MEET CENTRAL | SCHEDULE | LIVE RESULTS
CORPUS CHRISTI – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi men's and women's track and field teams will travel to Houston to compete in the 31st annual Victor Lopez Classic, hosted by Rice University. The Islanders will compete against 20 other schools over the two-day event starting on Friday, March 22 at Holloway Field/Ley Track.
The Islanders will face the likes of Dallas Baptist, Dillard, Harvard, Houston, Houston Baptist, Huston-Tillotson, Louisiana Tech, Northeastern, Notre Dame, Prairie View, St. John's, Texas Lutheran Texas Southern Texas - Pan American, Western Michigan and host Rice. The Islanders will also compete against Southland foes, Lamar, McNeese State, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin.
Last season at the Victor Lopez Classic both teams put together one of the best meets in school history. The Islanders broke two school records and recorded many top performances over the two-day event.
Leading the way for the men's team is Roger De La Cruz, who broke the school record in the high jump last season at the Victor Lopez Classic. Joining De La Cruz in the high jump is Quincy Obeng.
Valentinas Rudys had a stellar meet last season at the classic with a fifth-place finish in the 800m race and a 10th-place finish in the 1500m. He is set to compete in both events along with Brandon Lacy.
Joining Rudys and Lacy in the 800m are Cordarius Edmondson, Bryce Johnston and Wesley McGhee. Patrick Kimeli will look to pace the Islanders in the 1500m after picking up his first victory of the season last weekend at the Cactus Cup. Joining Kimeli is Philipp Baar, who won the steeplechase last weekend, Daniel Barlow, Paul Hansel and Abel Koskey. Barlow will also be competing in the 3000m steeplechase before finishing the day in the 5k.
Kimeli, Baar, Barlow and Hansel are slated to compete in the 5k along with Christoph Hintz and Justin Adame. Last season at the classic, Adame clocked a personal-best time of 14:56.14 while Barlow clocked a personal-best time of 14:56.80 back in 2010 at the classic.
Adame along with Jacob Abrego and Jason Garcia will run the 10k for the first time this season. Garcia finished fourth last season in the event with a personal-best time of 21:14.84.
Eric July will compete in the 100m and 200m while David Carrillo will represent the Islanders in the 400m. William Scott will look to improve his seventh-place finish from a year ago in the men's 400m hurdles. Last season at the classic, he moved into second place in the record books with a time of 53.94.
Michael Diamond will compete in the long jump and triple jump while teaming up with Scott, July and Carrillo in the 4x100 meter relay. Scott, Edmondson, McGhee and Carrillo will compete in the 4x400 meter relay.
On the women's side, Ashley Rosebrough is back to improve her third-place finish in the 100m from a year ago. Joining her in the event is freshman Ebony Collins, who clocked a personal-best time last weekend in the 100m with a time of 12.44. The two will then compete in the 200m.
Sidney Siepert and Shanice Prendergast are set for the 400m and will also lead the first two legs of the 4x100 meter relay with Collins and Rosebrough anchoring the relay. Siepert will also lead off the 4x400 meter relay team of Jasmine Boutte, Kayla Castillo, and Prendergast.
Last weekend's 800m champion, Boutte, will pace BreAnna Briggs, Alexandra Fernandez, Allison Baker, Teresa Tauriello, Kim Ward, Ashley Mills and Castillo in the 800m. Last season at the classic, Boutte clocked a personal-best time of 2:12.45, and went on to improve her time to 2:12.08 at the Fred Duckett Rice Twilight.
Boutte, Briggs, Mills, Fernandez and Ward are also set to compete in the 1500m. Last season, Boutte finished fifth in the event with a personal-best time. Briggs will finish Friday night in the 5k along with Vanessa Galindo and Regina Salinas. Last season, Briggs led the way in the event with an eighth-place finish. She set a personal-best time in the 5k in 2010 at the Victor Lopez Rice Classic.
Regina Salinas, who won the 1500m last weekend, is set to compete in the 10k along with Kayla Fischer, Alexandria Rossi and Samantha Hardin. Rossi returns to the classic after recording a personal-best time a year ago in the event.
Cecilia Jones will compete in the 3000m steeplechase for the first time this season. She clocked a personal-best time in the event last season at the Southland Conference Championships to place second all-time. Isabella Baptiste will represent the Islanders in the 100 meter hurdles and shot put. Joining Baptiste in the shot put is newcomer Shayla Green. Jontavia Dailey is set to compete in the long jump and triple jump while Micah Nolan and Baker will compete in the high jump.
Following Saturday's meet, the Islanders will compete at the Texas Relays on March 27-30.
For the latest information, follow Islanders Track and Field on Twitter (@IslandersTFXC) and Facebook (Texas A&M Corpus Christi Track & Field/Cross Country).
