SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team concluded its weekend at the UTSA Invitational on Saturday, walking away with its second gold medal in as many days while also seeing many different athletes climb the program's all-time ranks.
The best showing on Saturday for the Islanders happened at the very beginning of the day, when senior
Nyadhol Thichiot outperformed nine other competitors to take home a first-place finish in the women's triple jump. The medal for Thichiot was her second in as many meets after she finished the indoor season with a bronze at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships at the beginning of the month, and it was the second gold for the team at the meet after senior
Izac Canchola took one home on Friday in the men's javelin throw. In addition, Thichiot also moved up one spot in the program's record book for the event, with her jump of 12.56m elevating her to No. 2 and placing her just .31m away from becoming the all-time leader. On the other side, the men also saw a solid effort from freshman
Armando Rivera in the same event, as he reached fifth all-time with a jump of 14.66m.
The Islanders managed to walk away with one more medal on the final day of the meet, coming when sophomore
Emmanuel Ekuma earned bronze in the discus throw in his debut in the event with the team. Ekuma's best throw of 53.42m vaulted him all the way up to second place in program history, and in the same event, freshman
Riley Wampler got up to seventh at 42.56m. This capped off a very nice weekend for the both of them, as combined between the two, they managed to crack the leaderboards five times in five tries. The other side of the discus throw saw a similar level of success, with junior
Cyan Green also reaching second in A&M-Corpus Christi history with a throw of 46.25m and senior
Emily Malouf reaching eighth at 38.35m.
Saturday also saw the first track events of the weekend for the team, where freshmen
Aiden Chalk and
David Johnson got their own outdoor campaigns off on the right foot. To start, Chalk competed in the 110m hurdles and crossed the line in 14.92s to reach No. 8 in Islanders history in the event, and soon after, Johnson tied the 10
th-best time in the 100m dash with a time of 10.77s. This marked Johnson's third trip into the record books after doing so in both the 60m and the 200m during indoor season, while for Johnson, he previously did so in the 60m hurdles at the indoor championships earlier this month.
The Islanders will now head home to prepare for their next meets in just a few days, splitting the team between the Texas Relays in Austin from next Wednesday through Saturday and the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos from Thursday to Saturday.
#ShakasUp
