Here is a quick update from day 1 of the TX Relays in Austin, TX.
Jay Wilson was our first participant on the day, running the 800m against a strong field. Jay went out and methodically broke the school record he previously set on the same track two weeks ago by running 1:55.33. It was a season best for Jay. He is feeling more confident by the day and his training has been strong. We will tweak a few things as we continue toward our goal of 1:53 for the season.
Yvonne Rodriguez ran next in the women's 5K. We went in trying to grab a provisional qualifier for the outdoor national championships. That is exactly what Yvonne did! She smashed the school record, set last week, by one minute and 6 seconds to finish in 17:42.23. The time places her 14th best in the nation at this point. She will no doubt have to drop the time another 12-15 seconds to assure a national spot. She will run the 5K again at the Rice Twilight meet April 24th. We will do some fine tuning at the UT Twilight as we give the 1500m qualifier another mark as well as the 3000K. After the UT meet we wil focus on her best chance for running at nationals. She ran 5:28 for the first mile, 5:45 for the second mile and 5:45 for the third mile to run her smartest, most disciplined race of the season and finish 5th overall in a strong field.
Adrian Carrillo finished the day for us in the men's 5K. It was only Adrian's second 5K of his college career. He set a seasonal best of 16:06. He will look to drop under the 16 flat barrier this season. Once he breaks the 16 barrier most men never run over 16 again. He will run the open 3000m at UT in a few weeks and then come back with the 3K steeple at the Rice Twilight to finish out the year.
I will come back with another update Friday after Hilario Flores and Hayley Watts run the 100m that morning.
Until next time...
