A year for the books
Feb. 21 and 22 are two dates that will go down in the Javelinas track teams’ history books as we saw both the men’s and women’s teams place second at the Indoor Track and Field Lone Star Conference Championships.
“It was great. Definitely one of our best conference meets ever for both men and women. Women, it was our best conference meet ever. The highest finish that they’ve ever had indoors in the conference meet. So, I was really proud of the athletes with the way they performed and competed,” Head Coach Ryan Dall said.
The teams had a total of nine first place finishes, five second place spots, four third place spots and a whopping 25 top five finishes. The Javelinas also witnessed four school records being shattered at the meet.
Two of the records had been broken less than a month prior to the meet. Men’s and women’s 4×400 relay teams broke their school record at the Boston Terrier Classic at the beginning of the month.
The men’s team broke their previous record time of 3:11.80 with a new time of 3:10.30. The time became the fifth fastest time in the nation.
The women’s team would shatter their previous time of 3:45.75 with a new time of 3:39.62. Both teams have qualified to compete at nationals.
“Man, it wasn’t a surprise. We all worked hard for it. We knew what we were getting ourselves into with the competition that was there,” said men’s 4×400 relay team member Tony Benitez.
Women’s 4×400 relay team member Vitiana Roberts said, “It was crazy. We were expecting to run faster, but not that fast. I could see the time when CiCi (Cynai Christopher) was about to cross the line, and I could see it was a crazy time. So, when I saw it, it was insane. But we had the potential, we had other girls to run fast and we made it.”
Christopher is also a new school record holder for the 400m run, where she ran a 53.87 breaking the previous record by more than a full second. Sophomore Afaf Benhadja would also set a new school record posting a 35.79 in the women’s pentathlon.
Senior Ronald Mosquera, who will be competing at nationals for shot put, was a two-time LSC Champion in shot put and weight throw.
“I feel great. I didn’t expect to win both. Especially because I’m a discus and shot-put thrower. And when I came here, I decided to try to throw weight and now it works for me. I just feel great, and it’s nice for me because it is my last year competing in school,” Mosquera said.
Among the first-place finishers was graduate student transfer Madison Alegria who got gold in high jump clearing 1.73m, the 14th-highest jump in the nation this year. She will also be competing at nationals.
“I was grateful for it. It was a PR for me even coming from UIW. So, that was a big thing, it’s always great to PR. Now, I wouldn’t say there was much of a difference either because I work hard wherever I go. It was just me putting in that work, really wanting to go to nationals and that was what I needed and I went out there and I made it happen,”Alegria said.
The Javelinas have eight men and eight women competing at the Division II Indoor Track & Field March 13 to 15 at the Fall Creek Pavilion in Indiana State Fairgrounds Indianapolis, In.