Islanders Open Indoor Season In College Station

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track and field season officially starts this Friday, as the Islanders open indoor competition in College Station, Texas for a third consecutive season. The Islanders take to indoor competition at the Ted Nelson Invitational at Gilliam Indoor Track at noon, starting with the women's high jump.

"We are really excited to get the season started." says first-year Head Coach Brent Ericksen, "Texas A&M is a big meet and will really let us know who did our workouts over Christmas break and who did not."

The Islanders are set to face a number of challenges this weekend, going up against a field that includes Southland Conference rivals Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin. "Each indoor track facility is so different." says Ericksen, "For some of the freshman this will be their first time on a 200 meter track and for the returners it's been almost a year. Our goal is for the freshman to get some experience, be aggressive and really race, and for the returners to start at a higher level than they did here last year."

MEET HISTORY

• The Islanders have competed at College Station for four years running, with the men and women each claiming fourth in last year's Aggie Team Invitational
• The Blue and Green earned 12 top-five finishes in their last trip to Gilliam Indoor Track, with nine of those performances earning a podium spot
• Returning seniors Liz Romo and Carissa Pinion earned first (18:10.86) and third (19:16.01) respectively in the 2017 Aggie Team Invitational
• Some of the Islanders' top indoor performances of all-time have taken place in College Station. Current Islander high-jumper Sashane Hanson recorded a program best 1.76m at the Texas A&M 13 Team Invitational in 2016, while former athlete Ozzie Garcia's 14.62m in the 2010 Texas A&M Invite is the top-triple jump marker in school history
• This year's Ted Nelson Invitational is titled after former Texas A&M track and field coach and previous Aggie football and track standout Ted Nelson
• This is the first year the Aggie Team Invitational will be run as the Ted Nelson Invite, with the Aggie men taking first in each of the last six meets
• On the women's side, the Aggies have taken first in all but three years during that span

ISLANDERS IN THE FIELD

• The Islanders start the track season after sending a pair of high-jumpers to last year's NCAA Outdoor West Regional
• Zhafear Ray returns for his sophomore season after posting an indoor season-high 2.05m at last year's Dunamis Sports Group College Classic
• Junior Sashane Hanson posted a 1.75m in the Houston Invitational high jump last season, while her 1.73m at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships earned first place
• Benjamin Clark has been one of the Islanders top field performers since arriving on the Island three years ago. The rising senior took seventh in the SLC Indoor Championships (16.28m), the second-longest mark in program history
• Pole vaulter Hannah McWilliams grabbed the fifth-highest mark in the conference last season with a 3.90m at the Dunamis Sports Group College Classic II, turning in four top-five finishes during the previous indoor season

ISLANDERS ON THE TRACK

• Returning sprinter Branson Walls was one of the Islanders' top runners last year, tallying a team-best 6.98 in the 60 meter dash, as he currently holds six of the school's top-10 performances in the event all-time
• William Maraggia was the Islanders top-performers in the 800m last season, with his 1:53.70 at the SLC Indoor Championship earning a seventh place finish and went down as the 11th fastest time in the Southland last season
• Morgan McCutchen's 5:13.28 in the Southland Conference Indoor Championship one mile ranked 19th among all SLC runners for the season, while the rising sophomore's 5:18.33 in the final earned her 10th overall
• The Islander men excelled on the 3000m track during the 2017 indoor season, with returning runner Cesar Gonzalez (8:31.58) coming in eighth in the Conference Championships and ranking 15th among SLC runners for the year
• Senior Chloe Young's 8.72 in the SLC Championship 60m hurdles was the ninth fastest time in the conference and is the fastest time in program history. She currently owns the best 10 markers for the Islanders all-time

Coach Ericksen and his side are looking forward to their first competition of the winter, as the head skipper expressed in an interview earlier Wednesday. "I think everybody is nervous before a race." says Ericksen, "The difference is going to be how they use that nervous energy. Are you going to turn it into passion and aggression or are you going to be passive and watch others fly by? We go at it starting on Friday at 12 pm so we don't have much more time until we find out!"

Coach Ericksen embarks on his first year as the Islanders head coach, returning to the Island after sitting as the side's Associate Head Coach from 2007-08. Corpus Christi's Friday meet marks its 12th season since joining the Southland Conference, as the men and women look to improve on the 10th and ninth-place finishes they recorded in the SLC Championships in 2017. 

For more information on Islanders women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter (@IslandersTFXC), Instagram (@go_islanders) and like their Facebook page (Islanders Track & Field/Cross Country).