Austin, Houston - Competing at two different meets this weekend, the Texas A&M - Kingsville women's and men's track and field teams set a school record, put up six top-25 scores in the nation, and beat out multiple power four D1 teams.
The squads began their weekend in Austin at the 2025 Texas Invitational, a meet stacked with high-level D1 competition. Even with top-25 ranked D1 teams, professional runners, and gold-medal-winning Olympians competing against them, the Javelinas won two different events and placed top three in four more. As a team, the No.6 men's crew placed sixth among the 16 teams, finishing above teams like Wisconsin, Houston, and Baylor. The No.25 women placed ninth of 18 teams, beating out teams such as Winsconsin and Houston.
One of the Javelinas' two event winners, sophomore
Nirmit Dahiya, ran a new school record in the 1500m, clocking a 3:47.38, the 43rd fastest time in D2 so far this season. It was another member of the men's distance crew, sophomore
Jhonatan Rodriguez-Osorno, who nabbed TAMUK's second win of the weekend, running a 1:49.46 800m, the 17th fastest time in the nation. He became the second Javelina to break 1:50.00 in the last two weeks. Junior
Cody Fountain wasn't far behind Rodriguez-Osorno, placing third in the 800m with a 1:51.16. The men's short distance team posted some great times as well, with senior
Michael Samihamba running the 39th-fastest time in D2 with a 47.41. Junior
Tony Benitez was less than a 10th of a second behind him, running a 47.48, the 45th-fastest time so far this year.
In the field, All-American men's senior pole vaulter
Thomas Nieto posted a top-three finish as well, tying for second place as he cleared 5.30m - which ties his season-best at the fourth-highest vault in D2 this year. Sophomore
David Guzman's stellar weekend saw him put up top-10 performances in two different events, including a third-place finish in the men's discus. His 55.20m throw in the event is the 11th-longest toss in the nation. While it finished him lower in the event standings, his 18.12m shot put placed much higher on the national leaderboard, clocking in as the third-longest throw in the event this year.
On the women's side, as they have all year, the 4x400m relay crew of
Oneika Brissett,
Sakara Wade,
Vitiana Robert, and
Cynai Christopher put up yet another great outing. They combined to run a 3:42.61, placing third in the event and clocking in at 21st on the national D2 leaderboard. Christopher and Brissett also finished within .21 seconds of each other in the 400m dash, with Christopher finishing in fourth place with a 54.13, and Brissett running a 54.34, good for the 18th and 21st best times in the nation.
After a very quick turnaround, a small crew of Javelinas went back up North to compete in the J Fred Duckett Twilight Meet, hosted by Rice University. In the late-night Saturday competition, the squad was led by junior
Django Segovia, who cleared 4.71m in the men's pole vault, placing seventh.
The Javelinas will now look ahead to the Lone Star Conference Outdoor Championships, looking to put on a performance similar to the one it displayed a few months ago at the Indoor Championships, where they stuffed the All-Conference teams and placed second as a team on both the men's and women's sides.
