Last Saturday, the Trinity men’s and women’s track team traveled to Corpus Christi, Tex, for the Country Inn and Suites Islanders Open held at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi’s Dugan Stadium. The Tigers were the only NCAA Division III school to compete in the competition.

“I thought the Corpus Christi meet went really well, especially considering the conditions down there and that we were the only non-scholarship school competing as well. Taking all that into consideration, I thought we performed really well,” said head coach Marcus Whitehead.

Sophomore Taylor Piske placed fourth in the men’s 1500-meters with a time of 4:13.35, sophomore Chris Soto finished ninth with a time of 4:19.53, and first year Tristan Ashton finished 12th with a time of 4:21.87. In the 3000-meters, first year Zach Zimdars finished 11th with a time of 9:52.83 and junior Connor Amoruso finished 12th with a time of 9:56.28.

Senior Will Paulus placed tenth in the 400-meter event (50.40) and was 20th in the 200-meter event (23.26). Junior Tyler Patterson was eighth in the 800 meters (2:03.98) and sophomore Kirk Gulliver was 12th (2:04.89). First year Adam Saunders finished in 14th place in the 100-meter event with a time of 11:32.

“I think it showed that everyone was willing to come back early from their spring break and it was obvious that they had trained throughout their time off. They all came out and we really came together and did a great job at the meet,” said senior Maddie Murphy.

In the women’s events, sophomore Mariana Sigala placed fourth in the 800-meter with a time of 2:20.19, while senior Vanessa Moreno finished seventh with a time of 2:21.93. Murphy finished ninth in the 1500 meters (5:01.56) and Michelle Oberndorf was 12th (5:04.19). Senior Jessie Dean finished eighth in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 1:07.13.

“Saturday was a good meet; it was back from spring break so we were all kind of tired,” said senior Salome Wilfred. “The team looked really good this year, boys and girls. It was rough coming back from vacation, but we all came back and did what we could do and we’re all really excited about moving forward and what’s to come.”

Sophomore Bailey Drury placed 10th in the 400 meters with a time of 1:00.57 and placed 11th in the 200 meters with a time of 26.36. Wilfred came in 14th place (13:04) in the 100 meters and first year Katie Groke came in 15th place.

Trinity will compete in a meet today at Texas A&M Kingsville in Kingsville, Tex. Trinity will host the Tiger relays next Friday at the Trinity Track and Field/Football Stadium.

“The Texas A&M-Kingsville meet will be a little bigger and there will be some Division III schools there as well. Being able to see non-athletic scholarship competition is always good and beneficial in developing our athletes,” Whitehead said.