CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Taking part in its first split weekend of the year, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field program competed in two separate meets on Friday. The distance team ran at the Victor Lopez Classic, hosted by Rice, while the throwers and heptathlon athletes battled at the Roadrunner Invitational at UTSA.
At the Victor Lopez Classic, the Islanders started the night strong in the 1,500-meter run as
Vinnie Van Puyvelde crossed the line in eighth place for the men.
Jan Anstett placed 17th in the 5,000-meter run to cap the evening for the men, but not before his fellow countryman shined under the lights in Houston.
Marek Spriestersbach flew to a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The German international beat his original personal best by two seconds. His time of 9:28.60 topped the best Southland Conference time entering this weekend by three seconds.
For the women,
Cynthia Quiroga and
Carissa Piñón powered to eighth and ninth place, respectively, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. For Piñón, her time of 11:47.71 smashed her previous best by nearly 20 seconds.
Morgan McCutchen led the way for the Islanders in the 5,000-meter run in 12th place.
In San Antonio,
Mariah Ellis wrapped up her first heptathlon of the year in fourth place. The Canyon Lake native climbed two spots on the leaderboard on Friday, due largely to finishing second in the 800-meter run and fourth in the javelin. Ellis' 3,670 points were the 10th most in program history.
After a record-breaking performance in the discus last week,
Diamond Thomas was back in the throwing circle on Friday for the hammer and shot put. The Houston native earned the Blue and Green points with a seventh-place outing in the hammer, beating her career best by over a meter with her toss of 46.61 meters. Thomas took 12th in the shot put, as
Adrienne Nickleson was ninth with a 19.62-meter heave, the eighth longest in program history.
Ben Clark followed up his record outing last week with the third best toss in school history at 16.09 meters. The Spring Branch native earned a seventh-place finish for his mark.
Fellow thrower
Logan Robinson notched the fifth longest throw in school history in the javelin with his seventh-place finish at 51.35 meters.
The remainder of the Islanders' squad will compete tomorrow in San Antonio, starting with field events at 11 a.m.
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