AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team closed out its split weekend at the 97
th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin and the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos with an excellent final day on Saturday, setting three different school records between the two meets and getting many other strong showings beyond those.
"This was likely our busiest weekend of the outdoor season, competing in two meets simultaneously in central Texas" said head coach
Bryan Jackson. "I couldn't be more excited about how we just wrapped up March."
The Islanders got their day started about as well as they could've hoped, seeing both the men's and women's 4x800m relay teams take over the top spots in program history at the Texas Relays. The unit of senior
Kate Brockman and freshmen
Phylis Kibet,
Elizabeth Khatevi and
Embla Hreimsdottir were the first to make history on Saturday on the women's side, doing so after crossing the line in the event in 8:51.05, a mark that topped the previous best of 9:19.02 set last year by a whopping 28 seconds. Right after this, it was the men's turn to accomplish the same, with the group of senior
Emil Hajjaj and freshmen
Dillon Smith,
Philip Jensen e Castro and
Max Lowrey finishing their race with a time of 7:37.06. This finish just narrowly edged out the old record set in 2013, besting this mark of 7:37.95 by less than a second.
After the relays, it was the throwers that showed out for A&M-Corpus Christi, as the unit managed to cap off its excellent weekend with another assault on the program's record books. The best performance of the day came in the women's shot put from sophomore
Cyan Green, who set the new Islanders record in the event at the Bobcat Invitational after reaching a top throw of 15.79m. This beat her old personal best of 13.90m by nearly two full meters, and it placed her at No. 29 in all of Division I after the day of competition.
At the same time, senior
Emily Malouf also topped the old shot put record herself, coming in just behind Green in second all-time after reaching 14.69m. This was the conclusion of a busy day for Malouf, as she actually made the 30-mile trek south after competing in the discus throw in Austin in the morning and bested her mark from just two days ago with a throw of 49.93m to reach second in that event as well. Sophomore
Breyunna Dowell also accomplished something similar herself on Saturday, reaching a best of 54.51m in the hammer throw in San Marcos to improve upon the 52.63m mark she set in the opening day of the Texas Relays on Thursday and move up one spot from 3rd to 2nd in Islanders history.
The last top 10 performance of the day for A&M-Corpus Christi came from sophomore
Jayda Hough in the high jump, who reached 1.56m on her third attempt at the Bobcat Invitational. This jump put Hough at No. 9 in the event in program history, which comes after she reached as high as No. 4 during the indoor portion of the season earlier this month.
The Islanders will now enjoy a well-earned break before their next meet, having a week off before heading to College Station for the 44 Farms Team Invite on April 11 and 12.
"We will get back to work next week with having the weekend off of competition," Jackson said. "I'm looking forward to watching our continued growth throughout the rest of outdoor season."
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