Posted: Apr 10, 2022

Texas Lutheran Wraps Day Two of Split Meet Weekend

SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran women's track and field team wrapped up a split meet weekend that saw the team compete at both the UIW Invitational in San Antonio as well as the Carl Kight Invitational in Nacogdoches, Texas on the campus of Stephen F. Austin.

At Stephen F. Austin, Dejah Carr (Houston/Channelview) finished seventh in the hammer throw - first amongst Division-III competitors - with a mark of 42.77m. Carr now ranks second in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) in the hammer throw. Julissa Rodriguez (Deer Park/Deer Park) tossed a personal best 39.13-meters in the discus throw for an overall ninth place finish and first amongst Division-III entrants. With that mark, Rodriguez moves into second place in the conference in the discus.

Meanwhile at the UIW Invitational, Leilani Lopez (San Antonio/St. Anthony Catholic) collected yet another top ten finish in the 200m dash on Friday. Lopez would clock in at 25.66 seconds to finish ninth overall and first amongst Division-III sprinters - a personal best that saw her improve her time at the top of the conference in the event. Sirena Gomez (Robstown/Banquete) also ran a personal best time of 26.18 seconds in the 200m to finish 19th overall and fifth amongst Division-III sprinters.

Lily Dawson (Lott/Rosebudlott) and Brenna Iannelli (La Grange/La Grange) both collected top five finishes in the pole vault. Dawson finished with a mark of 2.80-meters to finish in fourth place edging out Iannelli who would finish in fifth place with a 2.80m mark.

On Saturday, Lopez would finish in eighth place overall and second amongst Division-III sprinters in the 100-meter dash with a time of 12.53 seconds. The Texas Lutheran 4x100 relay team comprised of Lopez, Gomez, Dawson, and Taylor Norrell (Lake Jackson/Brazosport) collected a sixth place finish - second amongst Division-III teams - with season best time of 49.65 seconds.

Full Results (SFA):http://www.jiratimingcompany.com/2022/sfainvite/

Full Results (UIW) Day 1:https://tlubulldogs.com/sports/wtrack-out/2021-22/files/day_1_results.pdf

Full Results (UIW) Day 2: http://www.bwraceresults.com/uiw/

Coach Holland's Comments: "At SFA, the throwers matched up with teams we don't typically see at meets in our area. Diving right in to the predominantly Division-I meet, the throwers held their own and many saw improvements with some season and personal bests - moving up in standings on the SCAC performance list in the process. Those that ran on the track at SFA also ran very competitively.

Meanwhile at UIW, times keep on dropping. Both freshmen Leilani Lopez and Sirena Gomez ran well in the 200 on Friday and turned around and raced equally as well on Saturday in the 100. The duo also paired up with sophomore Lily Dawson and freshman Taylor Norrell to run a season's best in the 4x100 relay. Speaking of Norrell, she also ran PR's in both the 100 hurdles and 100 meters.

All of those things were notable, but there were just so many more! It was just fun to be at a competition where the athletes were having fun and getting in there and competing. Again, it was just a great feeling to see how well everyone did and how there's promise of so much more success! We have Texas State next weekend and then Conference the week after, and I can see how competitive everyone is getting. The energy is building! We'll be ready for the championships in a couple weeks!"

Texas Lutheran is tentatively scheduled to split meets again next weekend to travel to Texas A&M-Kingsville to participate in the Cactus Cup as well as Texas State to participate in the Charles Austin Classic on April 15-16. For all updates on Texas Lutheran Track and Field, follow @tluthrows and @tluxctf on Instagram as well as as all official TLU Athletics accounts. All schedule updates can be found on tlubulldogs.com.