FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Two members of the Texas A&M – Corpus Christi track and field team competed in the NCAA West Preliminary on Thursday in Fayetteville, Ark., at John McDonnell Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
Angelo Garland competed for the Islanders in the 400-meters finishing fifth in his heat and 40th overall, while Ebony Collins ran in the 100-meters on the women's side and came in 44th overall and sixth in her heat.
"This was a terrific learning experience for these runners," head coach Shawn Flanagan said. "This was their first time running in a meet of this caliber, and it is only going to help these young student-athletes prepare for bigger and better things for next year. Same thing goes for the rest of the team. We had only a handful of seniors on this year's squad of more than 50, so we are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for the Islanders track and field program."
After setting school records on three separate occasions in the 400m throughout the season, the freshman Garland could not quite keep up his record-setting performances, as he ran a time of 47.64 in the event. That mark is .82 seconds off of his personal best time of 46.82, which would have qualified him for the next round if he could have equaled or lowered that mark.
In the 100m, Collins clocked a time of 12.11 to finish sixth in her heat. The sophomore will now come into next season looking to break the school record, as she improved throughout the year, running a time of 11.72 at the Southland Conference Championships to qualify her for the prelims, while also posting the third-fastest time in the event in school history.
With this marking the end of the track and field season, be sure to keep up with any breaking news regarding the teams by keeping posted to GoIslanders.com, as well as through social media on Twitter and Instagram (IslandersTFXC) and Facebook (Texas A&M Corpus Christi Track & Field/Cross Country).
