COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team wrapped up a busy week of competition on Saturday at the Alumni Muster, hosted by Texas A&M, finishing its final tune up before the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships in two weeks.
"Both teams have had a great year," said head coach
Bryan Jackson. "More school records and top-10 performances have come from the 2025 Islanders than any team before. As we head into the championship phase of the season, we really have nothing to lose. I have no doubt this group will compete hard and take their shot. That's all we can ask!"
The Islanders started the day out strong in what was the second event of the whole meet, with freshman
Mathayo Kiptoo Bundotich taking home a second-place finish in the men's 5,000m. Bundotich crossed the line with a time of 14:39.69, which beat his previous personal best by nearly five seconds, and it moved him up two spots to No. 8 in program history in the event. Also competing at the same time were freshmen
Dominic Kiptum and
Diego Canto, with the former finishing in 14:44.46 and the latter in 15:12.52.
Not long after, A&M-Corpus Christi had another athlete improve his standing in the all-time record books, with the second instance coming from sophomore
Caeden Croft in the men's javelin. Croft rose up one spot with his performance up to eighth in Islanders history, doing so by posting a best throw of 54.11m in an over two-meter improvement on his previous high set at the UTSA Invitational on March 21 in the outdoor opener. This was the first of two events for Croft on the day, as he also competed in the high jump in the afternoon and recorded a mark of 1.90m, the same figure as teammate
Noah Gonzales.
Rounding out the trio of competitors that cracked the record books for the Islanders was senior
Nyadhol Thichiot, who did so in the women's long jump after leaping 5.73m. This helped Thichiot get up to No. 6 in program history, which makes it four marks on the leaderboards for her after also doing so in the outdoor version of the event and both the indoor and outdoor triple jump. She also competed in the triple jump later in the day, finishing with a high of 12.64m to come in just behind her previous best of 12.77m.
The Islanders also had a few others get on the board with new personal bests in their events, starting with sophomore
Maggie Jones, who finished in 1:07.19 in the women's 400m hurdles to come just a second away from the program top 10. On the other side of the same event, freshman
Jeremiah Batiste set his new high after finishing in 53.20, helping further solidify his hold on the 10
th spot that he earned back at the Bobcat Invitational on March 28. Finally, freshman
David Johnson had the closest call of all in the men's 200m, crossing the line in 21.64s in a time just two milliseconds away from 10
th place in Islanders history.
The Islanders will now start their preparations for the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships, taking the next week off before then traveling to Houston for the biggest meet of the season starting on May 15.
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