WACO, Texas – Closing out one of the busiest weeks of the season to date, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team completed its second and final day at the Michael Johnson Invitational, hosted by Baylor, on Saturday, taking down one school record and getting multiple other personal bests.
The standout performer of the day for the Islanders turned out to be senior
Izac Canchola, who competed in the men's javelin throw in the afternoon and had his best showing of the season, reaching a high of 68.68m on his third toss. This earned Canchola a fifth place finish out of 19, and after the day of competition, it ranked as the 30
th best throw in all of Division I this year. It also gave him the Islanders program record for the second time this season, taking the honor back from teammate
Alex Del Popolo after previously holding it following the UTSA Invitational in March.
On the other side of the javelin, A&M-Corpus Christi saw senior
Katie Long climb closer to a program record of her own, as she ended up setting a new personal best with a throw of 43.23m. This was the second straight weekend that Long improved upon a previous performance, doing so this week after tossing 42.78m at the 44 Farms Team Invitational last Saturday, and her throw today brought her just 1.54m shy of the top mark set by Brandi Huff all the way back on March 29, 2012. As for the meet, Long finished just off the podium, taking home fourth place out of 20.
The Islanders also earned two different medals in the same event on Saturday, doing so in the women's 3000m steeplechase. Earning the silver was freshman
Neele Heyne, who finished the race in 10:59.19 to mark a new personal best, surpassing her previous high by more than a second. Freshman
Micah Mizell would finish right behind Heyne in third, crossing the line in 11:03.75 for a time that elevated her to No. 7 in program history.
To wrap things up, the Islanders had multiple athletes inch closer to reaching the program record books in their respective events. In the women's 100m hurdles, freshman
Edyn Breaux finished in 15.46s, a new personal best that was less than .2 seconds shy of the top 10. Freshman
Jeremiah Batiste came within a similar margin in the men's 400m, crossing the line in 49.26s to also get within one second of 10
th place, and freshman
David Johnson brought himself just half a second shy of the same mark in the men's 200m after posting a time of 22.01s.
The Islanders will now return home and enjoy next weekend off, taking time to prepare for their final tune up meet before the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships. Their next action will come at the Alumni Muster, hosted by Texas A&M, competing for one day on May 3.
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