HOUSTON, Texas – Finally getting back into action after a high performed indoor season, the outdoor slate will finally get going for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field teams this weekend at the Victor Lopez Invite, hosted by Rice at Wendel D. Ley Track.
The Islanders will hope to ride a lot of positives from the indoor season outside under first year head coach Bryan Jackson who will be simultaneously getting his first outdoor season underway at the helm.
From the SLC Indoor Championships, A&M-Corpus Christi came away with four podium finishes including two gold medals from graduate
Dennis Kipngeno and junior
Myla Tate. Kipngeno defended his own and repeated as the men's 5000m gold medalist after running a 14:33.04 time while Tate rounded out the championships with a dramatic performance in the women's triple jump as her last jump won the event with a 12.19m mark.
Kipngeno came away with three medals himself, securing both silver and bronze to round out his collection after placing second in the men's 3000m run and third in the men's distance medley relay along with
Enock Kimutai,
Kelvin Kimaiyo, and
John Moreno.
Kimaiyo also won silver in the 5000m run right behind Kipngeno with a 14:33.43 time.
The Islanders last competed in the regular season with an indoor finale between Houston and Vanderbilt. At the Howie Ryan Invite, every female student-athlete either set a new personal record or broke into the program's top-10 record book for their respective event.
That weekend alone, there were 12 new personal records as well as 18 instances of the program's top-10 lists being rearranged including a notable 10-second improvement from junior
Logan Rickey in the mile.
Freshman
Damacio Hooks went three-for-three in the indoor season in breaking into the program record book for the triple jump as he begins his first collegiate outdoor season. Junior
Nyadhol Thichiot also came in for her first season as an Islander and jumped 12.17m in the triple jump, the best mark in the conference and third all-time in program history.
With a mix of experience and fresh faces, Jackson will enter the five-week outdoor season that will feature eight different meets prior to the SLC Outdoor Championships set for May 2-4.
This weekend, Friday will begin with field events at 9:30 a.m. with running events scheduled to start around 2:30 p.m. For Saturday, the day will get going at 11 a.m. again in the event before 1:00 p.m. begins the running events.
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