Track & Field Set to Compete at Texas Tech Open Friday and Saturday

http://www.goutrgv.com LUBBOCK - The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley men's and women's track and field teams are set to compete at the Texas Tech Open on Friday and Saturday at the Sports Performance Center. Friday's first event gets underway at 4 p.m. with the women's weight throw while the running events get started at 5 p.m. Saturday's events get started at 11:30 a.m. with the women's mile run while the field events get started at 12 p.m. with the women's shot put. Who Else Along with UTRGV others schools competing include: host Texas Tech, Angelo State, Arkansas, Eastern New Mexico, Hardin Simmons, Huston Tillotson, LeTourneau, Lubbock Christian, McMurry, Midwestern, New Mexico Jr College, Oral Roberts, Prairie View A&M, Sam Houston, Tarleton, Texas A&M-Commerce, Trinidad State, University of Southwest, Wayland Baptist, Western Texas, and West Texas A&M. Last Time Out UTRGV posted 20 top-10 finishes at the Houston Invitational last week where they won two events, broke two program records while tying another. Paul May won the men's shot put with a throw of 17.37 meters after breaking his original program record of 16.63 meters with a throw of 16.99 meters in his first throw. May also went on to add an eighth-place finish in the weight throw. Ricardo Mendoza won the men's 800-meter run after crossing the finish line with an indoor personal best time of 1:55.1 Idatonye Cheetham-West set a new program record in the women's 60-meter dash. She reset the record in the preliminary round with a time of 7.74 seconds before coming back in the semifinal round with a time of 7.66 seconds. She also tied the program record in the long jump with a leap of 5.88 meters. She finished in 10th place in the 60-meter dash while finishing eighth in the long jump. Last Year at Houston Invitational UTRGV last competed at Texas Tech during the indoor season back on January 30, 2015. It closed out the Masked Rider Open with seven top-10 finishes where Jennifer Zapata, as a freshman, posted a sixth-place finish in the mile run with a time of 5:15.04. Erika Anderson posted a third-place finish in the weight throw while Cristina Santiago Bravo finished in 10th. Trey Taylor finished in third place in the men's weight throw and Javier Carretero added a 10th place finish. WAC Field Athlete of the Week Times Two Paul May earned his second WAC Field Athlete of the Week honor after setting the program record in the men's shot put. May, who set the program record two weeks prior at the Ted Nelson Invitational, broke his own record with his first throw of the meet which was of 16.99 meters. He later broke the record with a throw of 17.37 meters as he went on to win the shot put. He was the only thrower to surpass the 17-meter mark and his throw ranks first in the WAC and 68th in the country. Next Up UTRGV will be back in action on February 9 when it travels to Seattle for the Husky Classic, hosted by Washington State University.