T-Bird (W-Track) Shatters Records at Texas Relays

The NMJC women's track & field team competed in two separate meets March 27-29 at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin, Texas and the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Texas.

The T-Birds ended the weekend with 13 new national qualifiers and three new school records. 

Tania Millena Ancelmo Da Silva set the hammer throw school record with a 60.62m throw at Texas Relays this weekend. The sophomore's national standard bested Mathilda Bjorklund's 2021 record by 3.71m. The Porto Alegre native throw was No. 2 all-time for the NJCAA and is No. 1 in the NJCAA this season by 7.32m.

Da Silva was named the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week for her record-breaking performance at Texas Relays. She is the fourth female Thunderbird athlete to receive the distinction. 

Esteisy Salas-Lozano broke her own outdoor shot put school record by .54m with a 15.85m national qualifying throw at Texas Relays. Salas Lozano is No. 1 in the shot put for the outdoor season. 

The NMJC women's 4x800m squad of Emilly Silva, Jody Ann Mitchell, Tyfane Martins, and Amal Kachouri smashed the school record by 16.64 seconds with their time of 8:50.12. The team is ranked No. 1 in the 4x800m for the outdoor season. The previous record of 9:06.76 was originally set in 2018 by Sermons, Gitahi, Jerono and Jacobs.

National champion Tiana Petrova picked up where she left off in the indoor season, nationally qualifying in the high jump with an NJCAA No. 1 leading jump of 1.68m. Distance runner Ines Mrabet reached the national standard in the 10,000m with her run of 36:31.05. The time is No. 1 in the NJCAA for the event.   

The mile relay squad of Tuwana McLean, Kamaria Knight, Jody Ann Mitchell, and Nandy Kihuyu finished the 4x400m in 3:51.41 to qualify for nationals as the No. 4 team in JUCO.

Moving over to Bobcat competitors. 

The T-Birds had a trio of 800m runners nationally qualify in San Marcos. 

Emilly Silva led the pack with a 2:13.58 in the race to come in at No. 3 in junior college for the outdoor season. Tyfane Martins came across the line in 2:17.58 (NJCAA No. 6). The last qualifying runner was Francesca Alvarado who finished the 800m with a time of 2:18.32 to rank No. 7 in the NJCAA. Alvarado also breached the national standard in the 1500m with a finish of 4:42.48 (NJCAA No. 8). 

Jumper Sofia Mosquera Rodriquez triple jumped her way to an 11.86m mark to qualify for nationals ranked No. 3 in JUCO. 

Ysanne Peart competed in the 400mH this weekend and met the national standard in the race. Peart finished in 1:04.10 to rank No. 4 in junior college. 

The last national qualifier hails from Zimbabwe. Lisel Ndlovu is No. 10 in the NJCAA for the 5000m with an 18:35.24 finish. 

NMJC is ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA for the outdoor season according to the new rankings released by the USTFCCCA.

The Thunderbirds compete next at the Masked Rider Open in Lubbock, Texas April 3. The meet was moved to one day due to the weather forecast.