Cristina Santiago Bravo, Geneva Anderson and Javier Carretero COURTESY PHOTO
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley seniors Geneva Anderson, Cristina Santiago Bravo and Javier Carretero closed out the track and field season by earning a trip to Lawrence, Kan., where they competed in the NCAA Championships West Preliminary Round in their respective events.
NCAA Division 1 track and field student-athletes from across the nation compete all year in the hope of qualifying for regionals. At regionals, only the top 12 of the 48 competitors with the best time and scores in each event advance to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.
In the first round of the men’s hammer throw at regionals, Carretero totaled 59.23 meters while Bravo threw 52.56 meters in the first round on the women’s side.
Bravo earned her shot in the hammer throw at the Western Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships in early May. She threw a personal-record of 56.87 meters. Carretero qualified with a of 59.13 meter throw in April at the Long Beach Invitational in California.
Anderson worked her way to regionals competing in the 400 hurdles. Her time of 59.49 in April at the Bobcat Classic, the second-best time in program history, qualified her for regionals, where she ran a 1:01.85.
Carretero, Anderson and Bravo took home conference gold in their events when they won first place at the WAC Outdoor Championships in May.
The three seniors close out their collegiate careers by reaching a goal track and field Head Coach Xavier Richardson set at the beginning of the year: earning a shot to compete with the best Division 1 student-athletes at regionals.
The end of track and field season marks the end of all athletics in UTRGV’s inaugural year. The Vaqueros will be back in action in August when men’s soccer, women’s soccer and volleyball begin their seasons.
