The Rice men’s and women’s track and field teams had stellar showings at the 42nd annual Victor Lopez Classic last weekend at Wendel D. Ley Track and Holloway Field. The women’s team captured six event titles and saw numerous top finishes, while the men’s team took home four event titles and posted several top 10 all-time marks throughout the three-day meet.
The distance runners for the women’s team shined with Daphne Mayer claiming Rice’s first victory of the meet in the 5,000 meters. Katlyn Schmeltzer added a second-place finish in the 3,000 steeplechase, entering the Rice all-time top 10 with a finishing time of 10 minutes, 49.17 seconds.
Saturday’s competition opened with Morgan Fey taking third in the discus and later claiming the title in the shot put. Elena Siemens and Alice Taylor grabbed a pair of crowns in the pole vault and the high jump. Mckyla Van der Westhuizen took the last title from the field in the javelin with a throw of 60.29 meters. On the track, Julia Johannesdottir won the 100 hurdles with a time of 13.74 to move into sixth all-time at Rice.
“It’s always great to be a part of the Victor Lopez Classic,” said Jim Bevan, head coach of the women’s team. “It’s a great atmosphere. It’s a great start for the full team. It’s great to have a home meet. Obviously, Mckyla’s performance was spectacular — ninth in the world (this season), third in the country and potentially a factor in getting her to the World Championships. It’s hard to put in perspective how tremendous the performance was.”
For the men’s team, Sultan Bakare and Daniel Sowell opened the collegiate portion of the meet with second- and third-place showings in the hammer throw. Andrew Murray later shined in his season debut to claim the steeplechase title with Gus Gannon a second behind to finish in second place.
Ben Tijerina closed Friday night by claiming the title in the 10,000 with a time of 30:27.86, ranking ninth all-time at Rice. Saturday opened with Bakare and Jorge Hinojosa posting throws over 17 meters to finish third and fourth in the shot put. Juan Marais later claimed the discus title with a throw of 56.47 to move into fifth all-time at Rice.
“This was a very successful and exciting meet in both placing and in marks,” said Jon Warren, head coach of the men’s team. “Overall, this was very positive for us and should be a stepping stone for what we want to accomplish this season.”
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