Last weekend, the Trinity men’s and women’s track team hosted the Tiger Relays at the Trinity University Track and Field Stadium. Four Tiger athletes won their respective events, while others registered season-best times.

“It was definitely our best overall meet of the season,” said head coach Marcus Whitehead. “We perform really well at home and we had all but one of the Texas DIII’s there, so it was good to see where we stack up.”

Sophomore Taylor Piske won the men’s 10,000-meter race with a stadium record time of 31:55. He also recorded the second-all-time mark in Trinity’s record books. Senior Gerardo Hernandez was runner-up, with a time of 32:17, placing him third in Trinity’s records. Senior George Warren won the men’s high jump with a jump of 2.00 meters.

“The race went well. It was my first 10k against other teams this season, before I just raced with my teammates,” Piske said. “It was really nice to race with other people who were actually competing with me and making me push myself. It’s different than racing on your own. I was tired for most of the time, so I wasn’t trying to think about how well or badly I was doing, but I was happy to win.”

On the women’s side, senior Vanessa Moreno placed first in the women’s 1,500-meter event with a time of 4:44; Moreno outran her opponent by a mere 12 seconds. Junior Autumn Kervella placed fifth with a time of 5:03.74. Junior Sarah Pickett took first in the high jump event at 1.58 meters.

“It was a great opportunity to compete against conference newcomer TLU and see where we stand. We had a lot of individuals win and/or post some big PRs,” Moreno said.

The men’s relay teams performed well at the meet too. The team of junior Mike McIntosh, first-year Adam Saunders and juniors Cody Wolfe and Darian Sommers placed third in the 4×100-meter relay, registering a time of 43.05 seconds. The team of McIntosh, sophomore Carl Warren, senior Will Paulus and junior Ian Plantz took fifth in the 4×400-meter relay with a time of 3:25.88.

In the women’s relay events, the team of sophomore Bailey Drury, seniors Salome Wilfred and Jessie Dean and sophomore Mariana Sigala took fourth in the 4×400-meter relay event, recording a season best time of 4:04.29.

Sigala also placed third in the 800-meter race with a time of 2:21.99. Drury had season-best times in many events, including the 200-meter event where she recorded a time of 26.12 seconds for 10th place and the 400-meter event where she recorded a time of 59.26 for sixth place. Wilfred came in fourth in the long jump event at 5.33 meters and 10th in the 100-meter event, clocking in at 13.04 seconds. Sophomore Rebecca Earle finished 12th in the 100-meter event by recording a new personal-best time of 13.41 seconds.

Paulus placed fifth in the men’s 400-meter with a season-best time of 50.01 seconds. Plantz came in fifth in the 800-meter event with a time of 1:58.32; Wolfe finished seventh in the 200-meter with a time of 22.86 seconds.

“There are always areas for improvement,” Whitehead said. “The team just needs to stay focused and relaxed at the meets. The marks and times will continue to come.”

The Tiger men’s and women’s track team will compete today and tomorrow at the Sketcher’s Carl Knight Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas.

“This upcoming weekend will be at a bigger DI school so it will be a challenge for the group we are bringing. If they stay relaxed and trust in their training we will do great,” Whitehead said.

The Tigers have only three more weeks of preparation before the SCAC Championships which are the only other time the Tigers will be able to run at home this season. The SCAC Track and Field Championships are at Trinity from Friday, April 25 to Saturday, April 26.