Kingsville - After a record-setting regular season, the Texas A&M - Kingsville men's and women's track and field teams are off to the Lone Star Conference Indoor Championships, which will take place across Friday and Saturday in Albuquerque.
An amazing total of 49 athletes will be making the trip, with 26 men and 23 women travelling to the Championships.
"While we have had stiff D1 competition all year, this is the most competitive meet we go to all year," Assistant Coach
Zachary Hall said. "We come into this meet looking to finish on the podium, both the men and women are looking for a top three finish."
Hall said he believes the top three spots will be a dog fight between TAMUK, Angelo St., West Texas, and UT-Tyler. The Javelinas enter the championship ranked second in the LSC behind only WT on the women's side and third behind WT and Angelo on the men's, according to the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association (USTFCCCA) Conference Track & Field Rating Index (TFRI). The USTFCCCA's National TFRI has the men slotted in at 16th in the country with the women ranked 34th.
Kingsville enters the weekend's Championships riding a phenomenal finish to the teams' regular seasons. Six of the LSC's last eight weekly Athlete of the Week awards have gone to Javelinas, including, most recently, seniors
Thomas Nieto and
Jazmin Ray. Ray received the award (women's field) for a school-record-setting triple jump of 12.39m - the longest jump in the conference this year and the seventh-longest in the nation. Nieto got his (men's field), for a 5.27m pole vault, the fourth-heights vault in the nation this season. It was the sixth time in Nieto's career that he received a weekly LSC award during the indoor season.
"Both teams are well rounded, so we are looking to score points in all event groups," Hall said. "Throws has been a sweet spot for us in the past so we hope to continue that trend."
Throws has indeed been a strength for the team, as two different shot putters boast top eight throws in the nation this season on the men's side, and
Katryna Hernandez on the women's side holds the 12th-best shot put in the country.
"Our goal for our individuals is the same as the team," Hall said. "We are looking to compete and get on podium as many times as we can."
