CONWAY, Ark. – The Texas A&M – Corpus Christi track and field teams saw their first day of action in the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships begin Friday with a pair of competitors in the multi-events, as well several distance runners in the 10000-meters.
It was in the multi-events, the Islanders saw their best performances in the day, with Isabella Baptiste competing in the women's heptathlon and Dustin Smith participating in the men's decathlon.
Baptiste set personal records in three of the four events to end the day in fifth place with 2881 points. This mark puts her just 10 points out of first and 30 out of third. She demolished her personal records in her first two events by running a 14.94 in the 100-meter hurdles, before clearing 1.62m (5' 3¾") in the high jump to finish third in that particular event.
After finishing fourth in the shot put with a throw of 10.30m (33' 9½"), she finished off the day by clocking a time of 26.87 in the 200-meters. Baptiste will complete her final three events Saturday, starting with the long jump at 11 a.m., followed by the javelin and 800-meters.
Smith also had a very strong performance on the day, as he set personal bests in all five of his events on the day to place him seventh with 3301 points halfway through the decathlon.
He had a great start to the day, running an 11.14 in the 100-meters to finish fifth. He then posted marks of 6.22m (20' 5") in the long jump, 11.06m (36' 3½") in the shot put and 1.64m (5' 4½") in the high jump, before jumping back in the top five in the 400-meters, by sprinting to a fourth-place finish with a time of 50.51.
Smith will participate in his other five events tomorrow beginning at 10 a.m. with the 110-meter hurdles, followed by the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500-meters throughout the day.
It was a tough day for the long distance runners, as no Islanders were able to crack the top 10 in the 10k. A&M – Corpus Christi did have an 11th place finisher on both the men's and women's side though, as Jason Garcia (32:40.67) did so for the men, while Alexandria Rossi (40:10.90) finished in that particular spot for the women. Freshman Cesar Gonzalez came in right behind Garcia, finishing 12th in a time of 33:04.72.
The field events Saturday will begin at 3 p.m., however, the first Islander to compete out in the field will not be until 4, with Brandi Huff participating in the javelin.
The running events are set to begin at 5 p.m. with the prelims of the 1,500-meters. Every race, during both the prelims and the finals, are scheduled with the women's race followed by the men's. The only finals race on Saturday will be the 3,000-meter steeplechase, which will conclude day two of action at 7:40 p.m.
Live results can be found HERE and will also be provided on Twitter throughout the meet by following the team @IslandersTFXC, while fans can also follow along with pictures and videos on Instagram by following the team @IslandersTFXC as well. Full results and recaps will be posted on GoIslanders.com every night following the day's action.
