AZUSA, Calif. – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi track & field team concluded its run at the Bryan Clay Invitational, hosted by Azusa Pacific University, on Saturday, sending a smaller group into competition but still walking away with a gold medal and a school record among other standout performances.
The big win from the Islanders in the finale from the Golden State came on the field, with
Natalia Rankin-Chitar emerging victorious in the invitational section of the women's shot put. After qualifying for the finals and earning an additional three throws, Rankin-Chitar unleashed her best of the day on her first attempt of the next round, reaching 15.58m to finish nearly half a meter ahead of second-place Efe Latham of rival UTRGV. This improved upon her own personal best of 15.39m that she reached at last week's Cactus Cup in Kingsville, and it also moved her up to the top spot in the Southland Conference in the event so far this outdoor season.
On the men's side of the field,
Samson Black also continued his nice weekend, finishing near the top of the pack in both the discus and the shot put. He started first in the former by posting a mark of 49.92m, which earned him fourth place overall out of 34 competitors. He then returned a few hours later in the latter and placed sixth out of 28, doing so with a best throw of 15.31m.
These throwing events led into the main event of the distance races later in the night, where the Islanders got yet another historic effort from
Elizabeth Khatevi, this time in the women's 1500m. Competing in the elite section of the meet among some of the best competition in the country, Khatevi held her own and then some, finishing with a blazing time of 4:10.13 to come in eighth place overall in the field of 24. This helped the Kenyan break her own school record in the event by nearly seven whole seconds, and like Rankin-Chitar earlier, it also got her to the top of the conference by more than five seconds.
After Khatevi, the Islanders got one last personal best for the road, which came from
Dillon Smith on the other side of the same event. In the last race of the day, Smith crossed the line in 3:48.87, which marked a second improvement upon his old high mark set two weeks ago at the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos. This also moved him up one spot to No. 3 all-time in program history, just two and a half seconds behind record holder Shadrack Songok's time of 3:46.24 set 20 years ago.
The Islanders will now take a well-earned break next week before getting back in action for their final meet of the regular season, traveling to Dallas on May 2 for the one-day SMU Invitational.
#ShakasUp
