March 23, 2008

The University of Texas Pan American men and women's track and field program had great showings at both the Texas Southern Relays and the Texas Invitational held this Friday (Mar. 21) and Saturday (Mar.22)

"I was very happy with the way the teams performed this weekend. Everyone is coming around and we're looking like a complete team," said head men and women's track and field coach Dennis Darling.

On the women's side, Vanessa Brown and Ashlon Martin took the third and fourth place spots at the Texas Southern Relays with Brown running a time of 57.26 and Martin a time of 57.76. Martin's time of 57.76 marked her personal best for the season.

"I was happy she made the finals. She started off the season slow, but she's coming around. I know she can be up there with Vanessa," said Darling of Martin.

The 4x100M relay and the 4x400M relays both ran exceptional times with the sprint relay placing 10th with a time of 47.50 and the mile-relay placing third with a time of 3:49.00 at the Texas Southern Relays.

On the distance side, teammates Carolina Izaguirre and Diana Galloso finished in the top-10 in the 1500M run and the 3000M run respectively. Izaguirre finished second in the 3000M run with a time of 10:17.20 and Galloso finished ninth in the 1500M run with a time of 4:52.85 at the Texas Invitational.

Junior Michelle Elizondo took third place in the hammer throw at the Texas Invitational with a throw of 154-07. High jumper Bethany Anderson finished in ninth with a jump of 4-11.

On the men's side, Ruben Cantu finished 11th in the 100M dash with a time of 11.21 and placed 10th in the 200M dash with a time of 22.32 at the Texas Southern Relays.

The 4x200M relay placed fifth at the Texas Southern Relays with a time of 1:29.39.

In the 800M run, sophomore Gilroy Martinez recorded his personal best of his career with a time of 1:53.65 placing second at the Texas Invitational. Teammate Wally Gonzalez finished eight spots back in 10th place with a time 1:56.90 and Roly Vela finished right behind Gonzalez in 11th place with a time of 1:58.53.

Senior J.J. Hernandez placed second in the 3000M Steeplechase and qualified for regionals with a time of 9:00.87. Hernandez is the second Bronc to qualify for regionals this season.

In the field events, newcomer Oscar Barrera recorded his personal best in the hammer throw with a throw of 133-0 placing 10th.

Noel Reyna finished in eighth place in the high jump at the Texas Invitational with a jump of 6-02.75.

The men and women will be back in action when they head off to Houston for the Rice Bayou Classic on Friday and Saturday (Mar. 28-29) hosted by Rice University at the Rice University Track Stadium.

UTPA Sports Information