Albuquerque, NM - Another incredible indoor season continued into a stellar start to the postseason for the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's and men's track and field teams this weekend at the Lone Star Conference Indoor Championships as the men finished in second place behind the strength of four event Champions and the women took fifth place with three event Champs.

The men put together seven podium finishes and scored 112 points, finishing as the team runner-ups behind only West Texas A&M. The women tallied five podium finishes and scored 62.50 points, just nine points outside of a third-place team finish. In total, the two teams set 21 new top-10 marks in school history and put up six new top-30 marks in all of D2 so far this season, potentially qualifying a number of new Javelinas for the NCAA Indoor National Championships in two weeks.

The squads also broke a pair of school records, one on each team. On Friday, junior women's pole vaulter Kenzie Kurdys cleared a bar set at 3.92m, becoming the first Javelina in program history to break 3.90m in the indoor vault. That won the event and moved her into a tie for 17th-place in the nation. The last event of the weekend, men's 4x400m relay, used an electric come-from-behind victory to nab gold. The crew of Joseph Mouaha, Tony Benitez, Darius Bouakel, and Michael Samihamba closed out the weekend with a 3:09.62, which won the event, broke the school record, and moved the squad into 11th on the national D2 list.

In addition to those spectacular performances, TAMUK won five other events, including senior Django Segovia, who took home the men's pole vault title with the clearance of a bar set at 4.96m. Not far behind him, freshman Gage Upton cleared 4.81m and finished as the runner up, helping the Hogs go 1-2 in the event. Amazingly, two other Kingsville pairs went 1-2 in an event for the Javelinas on the men's side. In the field, it was a pair of underclassmen, sophomore Matthew Cordero and freshman Tyron Schmidt. Cordero threw 15.62m in the shot put, taking home the gold medal, while Schmidt threw 15.48m for the silver.

In seven events across two days, a freshmen duo stacked the podium in the men's heptathlon, as Jason Gordon put up 5018, the new 21st-best score in the nation, and the fourth-best in school history, to bring home the gold. Not far behind him, Christopher Gonzalez climbed to fifth on the school's all-time leaderboard with a 4840, grabbing silver.

In addition to Kurdys' Friday performance, the women added two more LSC individual Champs on Saturday. First, senior Madison Ramos, who already holds the school record in the women's high jump, added LSC Indoor Champ to her resume as well, clearing a bar set at 1.74m. Freshman Paisley Janssen joined her on the podium, clearing 1.63m and placing third (seventh in school history). Not long after, junior Karina Alvarez made it a men's and women's sweep of the shot put, throwing 13.52m and grabbing the gold.

As if that wasn't enough for a historic Javelina weekend, the two teams re-wrote more of the program recordbooks, combined to post five new second-best performances in school history.

The first such performance was Ella Hester, Nanhi Pannu, Sophie Mossman, and Ivanova Yanes, who placed seventh in the women's DMR, and ran a 12:42.63. Not long after that, the men's crew of Joshua Perez, Jacob Swierc, Aiden Summers, and Leon Doran finished Friday's competition off with a second place finish in the same event, running a 10:18.21. 

Two of the new second-best times came from the same sprinter, sophomore Oneika Brissett, who ran the new 17th-fastest time in the nation in the 200m with a 24.01, securing the first individual podium finish of her career with a second-place finish. She then followed it up with a 54.54, placing sixth in the women's 400m. The final such performance of the weekend came from the women's 4x400m squad of Pannu, Sakara Wade, Jazmine Miller, and Brissett, who finished fifth with a 3:43.84, the new 15th-fastest time in the nation this season.

Kingsville will now have a quick turnaround for the next meet on its schedule, the opening meet of the teams' outdoor seasons, the second iteration of the 'Gold and Blue Battle': a dual meet with Angelo St., which will be hosted in Javelina Stadium on Friday.


Compiled Javelina Results:

Men:

Track:

60m:
Prelims:
6.72 - DaTavus Pope - 3rd - Q
6.80 - Malachi Barendilla - 8th - Q - 8th in school history
Finals:
6.73 - DaTavus Pope - 4th
6.82 - Malachi Barendilla - 8th

200m:
Prelims:
21.36 - Malachi Barendilla - 8th - Q
21.46 - DaTavus Pope - 11th - 7th in school history
21.57 - Ausencio Martinez - 13th - 10th in school history
Finals:
21.22 - Malachi Barendilla - 5th - 3rd in school history - 27th in the nation

400m:
Prelims:
47.66 - Michael Samihamba - 11th - 4th in school history
48.19 - Tony Benitez - 13th - 5th in school history
48.69 - Darius Bouakel - 15th - 8th in school history
49.00 - Joseph Mouaha - 20th

800m:
Prelims:
1:55.09 - Jhonatan Rodriguz-Osorno - 12th
1:56.68 - Kristian Green - 15th

Mile:
4:25.79 - Leon Doran - 8th
4:29.24 - Josh Perez - 11th

3000m:
8:52.26 - Roberto Alejandro - 6th
8:52.35 - Jacob Rivera - 7th

5000m:
16:11.92 - Roberto Alejandro - 16th

60mH:
Prelims:
8.53 - Gabriel Hernandez - 11th

4x400m Relay:
3:09.62 - Mouaha, Benitez, Bouakel, Samihamba - 1st (Lone Star Champion) - new School Record - 11th in the nation

DMR:
10:18.21 - Perez, Swierc, Summers, Doran - 2nd - 2nd in school history

Field:

High Jump:
1.73m - Caden Soliz - 5th

Pole Vault:
4.96m - Django Segovia - 1st (Lone Star Champion)
4.81m - Gage Upton - 2nd
NH - Perry McIntire
NH - Wesley Miller
NH - Braden Shaw

Long Jump:
7.22m - Jayden McCoy - 3rd - 5th in school history
7.01m - Chris Gonzalez - 7th
6.82m - Dorian Aranda - 10th
6.74m - Jason Gordon - 12th

Triple Jump:
13.89m - Dorian Aranda - 5th
13.03m - Gabriel Hernandez - 8th

Shot Put:
15.62m - Matthew Cordero - 1st (Lone Star Champion)
15.48m - Tyron Schmidt - 2nd

Weight Throw:
14.65m - Matthew Cordero - 11th
12.89m - Tyron Schmidt - 17th

Heptathlon:
5018 - Jason Gordon - 1st (Lone Star Champion) - 4th in school history - 21st in the nation
4840 - Chris Gonzalez - 2nd - 5th in school history
4499 - Caden Soliz - 4th - 9th in school history
4041 - Jayden McCoy - 6th

Women:

Track:

200m:
Prelims:
24.15 - Oneika Brissett - 3rd
24.87 - Jazmine Miller - 11th
Finals:
24.01 - Oneika Brissett - 2nd - 2nd in school history - 17th in the nation

400m:
Prelims:
55.28 - Oneika Brissett - 7th
55.54 - Sakara Wade - 10th - 6th in school history
58.01 - Jazmine Miller - 18th
Finals:
54.54 - Oneika Brissett - 6th - 2nd in school history

3000m:
10:57.27 - Ivanova Yanes - 13th - 6th in school history

5000m:
19:54.26 - Kayla Garcia-Trevino - 15th

60mH:
Prelims:
8.93 - Kenzie Kurdys - 9th
9.16 - Herminia Corado - 14th

4x400m Relay:
3:43.84 - Pannu, Wade, Miller, Brissett - 5th - 2nd in school history - 15th in the nation

DMR:
12:42.63 - Hester, Pannu, Mossman, Yanes - 7th - 2nd in school history

Field:

High Jump:
1.74m - Madison Ramos - 1st (Lone Star Champion)
1.63m - Paisley Janssen - 3rd - 7th in school history
1.63m - Nicola Swenson - 7th

Pole Vault:
3.92m - Kenzie Kurdys - 1st (Lone Star Champion) - new School Record - 17th in the nation

Long Jump:
5.17m - Kyra Nunez - 12th

Shot Put:
13.52m - Karina Alvarez - 1st (Lone Star Champion)
13.18m - Kaylea Demetrius - 4th
12.91m - Yosiris Cordoba - 5th

Weight Throw:
14.25m - Aishwarya Bhardwaj - 13th
14.07m - Kaylea Demetrius - 14th