AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team continued its run through both the 97
th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin and the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos on Friday, seeing one athlete take down a school record and two others climb even closer to doing the same as the highlights of the day.
The best performance for the Islanders on Friday came at the Bobcat Invitational from sophomore
Emmanuel Ekuma, who after reaching second on the program's top 10 in the discus throw on Thursday one-upped himself just a day later in the hammer throw. In this event, Ekuma became the all-time leader in A&M-Corpus Christi history, jumping up one place from the No. 2 spot that he earned last week by reaching a high throw of 54.53m. This was a more than six-meter improvement over his previous personal best of 48.35m, and it bested the mark set by previous leader Aaron Rosales in 2019 by more than two meters. When including indoor season, Ekuma has now set four different program records in his first year with the Islanders and sits just five meters away from making it a fifth in the discus throw.
Nearly joining Ekuma at the top of the record books at the same meet was freshman
Embla Hreimsdottir, who herself put together a very nice outing in the women's 1500m. Hreimsdottir finished in sixth place out of 64 competitors in the meet after crossing the line in 4:31.46, a mark which vaulted her up to No. 3 in Islanders history in the event. This was her second top 10 in as many days after reaching No. 5 in the 800m on Thursday, and she now sits less than a second out of second place and five behind all-time leader Allyson Girard.
Rounding out the standout performers was
Jeremiah Batiste, with the freshman having a career day in the 400m hurdles. Batiste finished his run in sixth place out of 44 competitors at the Bobcat Invitational with a time of 53.33s, a mark that currently ranks 63
rd in all of Division I. This was also good for the 10
th best time in the event in Islanders history, just narrowly cracking the list by .32 seconds.
Beyond these three, the Islanders managed to get strong efforts in a few other events between the two meets. The closest calls to the record books came from freshmen
Dillon Smith and
Philip Jensen e Castro in San Marcos, with the former coming within half a second and the latter within just over a second of cracking the leaderboard in the men's 1500m. In addition, senior
Izac Canchola set his new personal best in the javelin throw at the Texas Relays, reaching 65.24m to come just .12m away from taking back the top spot in school history in the event from sophomore
Alex Del Popolo, who overtook Canchola just one day earlier.
The Islanders will now conclude their split weekend in the final day of both meets on Saturday, getting underway at 10 a.m. in both Austin and San Marcos.
#ShakasUp
