Julissa Rodriguez (photo by Bryce Hayes)

Posted: Apr 25, 2022

Texas Lutheran Finishes Third, Rodriguez Named Co-Female Athlete of the Meet at SCAC Championships

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Texas Lutheran wrapped the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Championships with a third place finish on Sunday tallying 112 points over the two-day meet.

Freshman Julissa Rodriguez (Deer Park/Deer Park) was named Co-Female Athlete of the Meet in the post-meet Awards Ceremony Sunday for her performance in throws competition. Rodriguez produced 26 points in the meet with a win in the shot put, a runner-up finish in the discus with a mark of 36.96m, a third-place finish in the hammer and a fifth-place finish in the javelin.

In the discus, Rodriguez would be joined on the podium by Dejah Carr (Houston//Channelview) who finished third with a 36.66m mark.

Taylor Norrell (Lake Jackson/Brazosport) earned silver in the women's 100-meter hurdles with a time 15.72 seconds - a season best and the second best time in the conference this season.

Sirena Gomez (Robstown/Banquete) and Leilani Lopez (San Antonio/St. Anthony Catholic) would finish in third and fourth respectively in the 100-meter dash - adding 10 points to the team's tally. Gomez would win bronze with a time of 12.45 seconds. Gomez and Lopez would team with Brenna Iannelli (La Grange/La Grange) and Ja'Keia Williams (La Grange/La Grange) to finish third in the 4x400-meter relay with a season-best time of 3:27.89.

Texas Lutheran would add three points in the javelin throw from Rodriguez and Gizelle Gutierrez (Pharr/PSJA North) and one point from Cameron Miller (Spring/Grand Oaks) who finished sixth in the high jump.

Full Results: https://tlubulldogs.com/sports/wtrack-out/2021-22/files/2022_SCAC_Womens_Track_and_Field_Results.pdf

Coach Holland's Comments:

"We sincerely gave it everything we had. Both genders rose to the occasion with several personal bests, season bests, school records, medals and awards galore! So proud of freshman thrower Julissa Rodriguez for earning a co-most valuable athlete of the meet by scoring in all four of her throwing events and Caimen McDonough for the same honor on the men's side with top performances in the 110 hurdles, 400 hurdles, long jump, triple jump, high jump and 4x400 relay. Then, not to be outdone, senior Troy (TJ) Stephenson earned the Elite 19 award for excellence in the classroom and on the field for the men.

I honestly couldn't believe how well everyone performed! It sounds so cliche, but you just had to be there; the energy was unreal! Saturday evening by the last event, everyone was so pumped, and we took it into Sunday and kept the excitement going on the track and in the field events. Going in, the men were predicted to be down by almost 100 points to Trinity, but that fire was lit and we pressured them until the end. Nobody wanted to give an inch or a 10th of a second at any point during the meet. Again so proud of everyone! It was an amazing Championship meet."

The Bulldogs will compete intermittently over the course of the next month as they prepare for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at the SPIRE Institute in Geneva, Ohio, May 26-28. 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.