The Trinity track teams competed in the Trinity Invitational on Friday, March 27. Competitors came from all NCAA divisions and NAIA. The Trinity women’s team took first among Division III teams with 165 points. The men’s team placed second in the Division III ranks with 90 points.
The men’s 4×100 relay team broke a Trinity record when they finished in 41.95 seconds. The team, which includes senior Cody Wolfe, junior Eric Booker, sophomore Adam Saunders and first year Eric Soo are ranked No. 2 in Division III following the victory.
“We ran a really good race. We hadn’t really felt like we were performing our best before. We’ve had a few struggles in previous races; it felt really good to finally piece together a really solid race,” Booker said. “But if we can get our hand offs better, and be a little more efficient, I think we can be even faster.”
The women’s 4×100 relay also took first place and broke a Trinity record. Junior Bailey Drury, sophomore Katie Groke, and first years Nkolika Nweke and Elizabeth Peters ran the event in 48.42 seconds. That time earned them a ranking of fourth nationally in Division III.
“We’re seeing a lot of records being broken from this team. I think that really reflects how hard we’ve been working and the improvements by our coaching staff. They’ve set us up to do well, and it’s paying off. It’s still early in the season I do not think these will be the only records we see broken this year,” said sophomore jumper Stephen Thai.
Britney Sullivan, first year, emerged as the women’s triple jump champion, with a leap of 11.80 meters; her jump also broke a Trinity record. This is the second straight week that Sullivan has broken the Trinity triple jump mark, eclipsing her own record of 11.48 meters set the week before. Sarah Pickett, senior, won the high jump, Natalie Belew, sophomore, won the 10k and Mariana Sigala, junior, took the 800 meter.
Last weekend, the Trinity track and field team competed in the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational in Claremont, California.
Nweke set the Trinity women’s record in the 100 and 200, with marks of 12.36 seconds and 25.26 second respectively. The 4×100 women’s relay team finished third with a time of 48.83 seconds. Drury, Peters and Sullivan all also finished the 200 meter in under 27 seconds.
Sullivan also competed in the long jump and finished 6th in that event.
Louie Montoto, first year, placed fifth in the men’s high jump with a mark of 1.95 meters. Four Trinity men’s runners finished the 200 meter with sub 23 second times: Wolfe, Soo, Saunders and Mike McIntosh, senior.
“We looked really strong in all our events. We were facing some tough competition but I think we held our own,” said junior David Stroud.
The Tigers will compete next Saturday at the University of the Incarnate Word Invitational in San Antonio.
Trinity will then host the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships April 24-25.
