COLLEGE STATION, Texas – After starting off its run at the Charlie Thomas Invitational on a high note yesterday, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team put together an even more impressive showing in the final day on Saturday, taking down a pair of school records while also seeing multiple competitors continue their climb up the program's all-time rankings.
What a weekend!" said head coach
Bryan Jackson. "We just keep building off the last one. Across the board, I am beyond proud of how we competed. Not a perfect weekend by any stretch, and we still have more growth and the perfect weekend to chase, but even those who didn't have the result they wanted competed with heart, confidence and a ton of guts. This group is really establishing what the Islander I should stand for."
The first school record to fall came in the men's 800m, and the person to do it was freshman
Dillon Smith in just his second time competing in the event in his collegiate career. After debuting in second place in Islanders history in his debut race two weeks ago, Smith got over the hump on Saturday, crossing the finish line in 1:51.43 to clear the previous record of 1:51.82 set by Valentinas Rudys nearly 10 years ago on February 17, 2015. This performance was good for 12
th overall in a 44-man field, and right behind Smith in 15
th was senior
Emil Hajjaj, who set his own personal best with a time of 1:52.19 to rise to 3
rd place in Islanders history in the event.
The other record-breaking run came in the women's 3000m, with freshman
Phylis Kibet continuing her stellar start to her debut campaign. Kibet shattered the previous best of 9:36.95 set in 2018 by Rabea Schoneborn, finishing her race nearly 10 seconds better at a time of 9:26.97 to take home a second-place finish in the event, the second of the weekend and third podium finish overall for the Islanders. Another pair of freshmen showed out in the same event as well, as
Alicia Finnis and
Embla Hreimsdottir finished with times of 9:33.63 and 9:57.89 respectively to move into second and sixth in program history.
The Islanders got one additional medal at the meet, this one coming from yet another freshman in
Dominic Kiptum. The NCAA Cross Country Championships qualifier finished second place on the men's side of the 3000m, posting a time of 8:21.14 to finish second out of 21 racers and make it up to No. 5 in Islanders history in the event.
The distance runners on the team putting on great performances proved to be a theme on Sunday, as the Islanders got another pair of solid efforts in the women's 800m. Seniors
Chloe Garcia Grafing and
Kate Brockman each picked up personal bests in the same race, finishing within a couple seconds of each other with times of 2:14.60 and 2:15.65 respectively. This continued their gradual ascent in the event, with Garcia Grafing now holding the third spot and Brockman the fifth after ranking fifth and sixth coming into the weekend.
Not to be outdone, the sprinters group also saw two athletes put together their own personal-best showings. The first of these was freshman
Jeremiah Batiste, who followed up a nice showing on Friday by reaching a time of 48.65s in the 400m to crack his second top 10 of the weekend in ninth place. Senior
Khiah Lara-Turner did the same on the women's side of the same event, crossing the line in 57.93s to make it to No. 7 on her respective list.
On the field, sophomore
Emmanuel Ekuma qualified for the finals of the men's weight throw, reaching a high mark of 18.03m to take home eighth place out of 21 competitors and finish just .10m off his personal best. Senior
Nyadhol Thichiot did the same in the women's triple jump, finishing ninth out of 21 after getting up to 12.15m on her first attempt, her best of the season and just .02m shy of the mark she set nearly one year ago to the day at the Howie Ryan Invitational last season.
The Islanders will now have a quick turnaround to their next meet, traveling north to Lubbock to compete in the Jarvis Scott Invitational next weekend. The event will last two days, kicking off on Friday before coming to an end after a full day on Saturday.
"Next week at Texas Tech will be the final tune up before conference," Jackson said. "I am looking forward to challenging this group to take the next step!"
#ShakasUp
