LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team had a strong opening performance at the Jarvis Scott Invite in Lubbock on Thursday, taking home two medals and knocking down a pair of school records in the first day of the event hosted by Texas Tech.
"It was a great first day here in Lubbock!" said head coach
Bryan Jackson. "This team is extremely consistent in how we compete. When we step into competition, I know what this team is going to bring. I am excited to see more of it tomorrow."
As has been the standard so far this season, junior
Cyan Green and sophomore
Breyunna Dowell got things started for the Islanders on the right foot, with both securing podium finishes in the women's weight throw. The former managed to take home second place in the event, doing so after reaching a high of 20.37m on her third throw, while the latter came in right behind in third place at a mark of 19.72m. Green has now medaled in the event at every meet this year, taking home a gold, two silvers and a bronze, while Dowell has done so in three of the four with one silver and two bronzes.
The Islanders nearly nabbed another medal later in the day in the women's 800m, with freshman
Phylis Kibet finishing fourth out of 41 total competitors with a time of 2:11.06. Despite the narrow miss, this mark still went down as the best in school history in the event, surpassing the time of 2:14.39 set by Faith Bett at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships in 2023. Kibet has now set school records in different events at each of the three meets she has competed at this season, also becoming the leader in the mile at the Ted Nelson Invitational on January 25 and the 3000m at the Charlie Thomas Invitational last week. She was not the only person to crack the all-time top 10 in the race today, either, as fellow freshman
Embla Hreimsdottir also did so at the No. 5 spot after crossing the line in 2:15.35.
The other side of the 800m also saw another school record fall, albeit in a different fashion. The honors in this case were done by freshman
Dillon Smith, who set the new high mark after finishing in 1:51.21, breaking the mark he set just last week by .22 seconds. This was good enough for 11
th place at the meet out of 54 total racers, with senior
Emil Hajjaj and freshman
Philip Jensen e Castro following not far behind in 15
th and 24
th respectively. Jensen e Castro actually managed to earn his first appearance in the Islanders' record books with this finish, making it up to No. 7 with a time of 1:54.37.
The last standout performance of the day came in the sprints group, as senior
Khiah Lara-Turner put together the best showing of her career in the women's 400m. Lara-Turner finished her race in 56.64 seconds, which went down as a noticeable improvement over her time of 57.93s set just last week at the Charlie Thomas Invitational. This jump in time helped her rise four spots in the school's all-time rankings, going from No. 7 all the way up to No. 3.
The Islanders will now look to build upon this momentum tomorrow in what is their final tune up before the Southland Conference Indoor Championships on March 2 and 3. Saturday's portion of the meet is currently scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. CT, with the projected finish currently slated for 4:50 p.m.
