HOUSTON, Texas (Track & Field) – Both the men's and women's long jump titles at the Rice Twilight on Wendel D. Ley Track and Holloway Field went to Texas A&M-Kingsville athletes on Saturday.
Aricela Alvarez recorded a personal best leap in the women's contest and
Lutalo Boyce claimed first in the men's event.
Alvarez uncorked a leap of 19-4.75 (5.91m) on her fifth attempt of the day to hit a provisional qualifying mark. Her distance ranks second in the Lone Star Conference and is tied for 17th in the nation. In the triple jump, she was seventh with the ninth best leap in school history at 37-11.25 (11.56m).Boyce leapt 24-4.25 (7.42m) to win by four and a half inches over Simon Imagbe of Sam Houston State.
Javier Lopez claimed the only other men's title in the 110m hurdles. His time of 13.79 is tied for the third fastest in school history. Also in the event,
Courtney Macon finished fourth in 14.40.
Rounding out the individual event victories for the Javelinas was
Amber Perry in the 400m dash in 54.33. The time is tied for the fourth best in program history that she clocked at the 2014 NCAA Championships.
The foursome of
Kaina Martinez,
Jasmine Miller,
Kathy Trevino and Perry were the fastest team in the 4x400m relay. Their time of 3:42.04 is the second fastest in program history.
Punching his ticket to this year's national championships was
Jordan Yamoah. He cleared 17-1.5 (5.22m) on his third attempt to take second in the pole vault. Southeastern Louisiana's Devin King also reached the height but on his first attempt to come in first.
Bryce Martin recorded a ninth place finish at 15-1.75 (4.62m) as well.
The men's 4x100m team of
Darnelle Mickens,
Deon Hope, Boyce and Lopez ran a 40.50 to shave tenths of a second off their provisional mark. Not only did they take over the top time in the conference but moved up to seventh in the country.
Martinez knocked two hundredths of her time in the 200m dash, crossing the line in 24.13 for second. She claimed third in the 100m dash with a time of 11.81.
In his first time running the men's 200m, Lopez finished in 21.59 for second place behind Kemar Mowatt of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Cheyanne Nalle and
Valerie Vrana recorded top five finishes in field events. Vrana was third in the shot put at 45-5 (13.84m) and Nalle came in fifth with a distance of 156-3 (47.64M) for the hammer throw.
Mickens (10.82) was the top TAMUK finisher in the 100m in fourth. Hope (10.88) was seventh and
Jalen LeCounte (10.99) recorded the last sub 11-second time to come in 11th.
Rounding out the men's track performances was in the 800m run.
Michal Idziak crossed the line in 1:52.60 for seventh and
Francisco Solis claimed 10th with a time of 1:52.88.
Top 10 finishes for the men field athletes came from
Richard Cervantes,
Javan Gray and
Derek Tesch. Both Cervantes (eighth) and Tesch (seventh) competed in the discus while Gray (fourth) threw the javelin.
Next up for the Blue and Gold is the LSC Championships May 7-9 in San Angelo, Texas.
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