AZUSA, Calif. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team wrapped up a busy day of competition on Friday, concluding its run at the Bryan Clay Invitational, hosted by Azusa Pacific University, while also getting started at the Michael Johnson Invitational in Waco.
In California, the Islanders started the day out in the morning session, with freshmen
Dillon Smith and
Philip Jensen e Castro racing in the men's 1,500m. Smith put together a standout performance in the event, crossing the line in 3:54.41 to finish third in his heat and seventh overall out of 78 competitors. He also managed to crack the program's top 10, coming in at No. 8 and just a couple seconds away from breaking into the top five. Jensen e Castro also almost did the same, finishing around five seconds shy with a time of 4:01.10.
The women on the team competed in the same event in Azusa during the evening session, a group that was highlighted by a fantastic effort from freshman
Elizabeth Khatevi, who took home her second school record in as many days. After previously doing so in the 800m, Khatevi made it two in a row by recording a time of 4:21.47, besting the previous high set by teammate
Phylis Kibet at the 44 Farms Team Invitational last weekend and finishing in 52
nd out of 142 athletes. Kibet crossed the line in 4:35.09 in the same block, and in the penultimate grouping of the evening, freshmen
Embla Hreimsdottir and
Alicia Finnis finished with times of 4:32.20 and 4:37.32 respectively.
Meanwhile, the other contingency got things going over in Waco, with sophomore
Emmanuel Ekuma and junior
Cyan Green leading the way in a pair of throwing events. The first to make waves was Ekuma, who managed to best his own school record in the men's hammer throw set at the Bobcat Invitational in late March, improving from 54.53m up to 55.29m. This mark just narrowly missed making the finals at the meet, giving Ekuma a 10
th place finish out of 24 competitors. After this was Green, who rose up a spot to second in program history in the women's discus throw after topping out at 51.40m. This was good for the 76
th best throw in all of Division I this year after the day of competition, and it placed her just .23m shy of breaking the school record set by Diamond Thomas back on March 22, 2018.
On the track at Baylor, the Islanders also got a nice showing from freshman
Dominic Kiptum in the men's 5,000m. Kiptum took home fifth place at the meet out of 31, posting a time of 14:36.39 to come within just three seconds of the eventual winner. This elevated him up to No. 6 in Islanders history in the event, getting him onto the list just in front of current teammates
Diego Canto and
Mathayo Kiptoo Bundotich.
The Islanders will now close out the busy week on the last day of the Michael Johnson Invitational on Saturday, getting the finale underway for the first event at 11:00 a.m.
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