(Photo/Troy Athletics)
Senior Michael Alvarnez placed first in the weight throw competition on Saturday at the UAB Vulcan Invitational in Birmingham, Alabama.
Scott Shelton
Sports Editor
The Troy track and field team opened its 2020 schedule at the UAB Vulcan Invitational on Saturday in Birmingham’s where the Trojans racked up a pair of individual championships at the meet.
Senior Michael Alvernaz marked his season debut with a first-place finish in the weight throw—the same competition he placed third in a year ago and won in 2017 as a freshman.
Alvernaz recorded a throw of 20.49 meters and edged out Texas State’s Jaylon Jorge, who threw for 19.35 meters.
Sophomore Macki Walsh placed first in the 3000-meter race and beat out another Texas State runner, Abby Steinhauser, by a margin of 11 seconds.
A race which saw a host of Trojans have success was the women’s 800-meter race.
Sophomore Alexandria Rankin and a trio of freshmen, including Tanner Guest, Katie Smith and Sydney Singletary all placed in the top 10 in the race.
Guest finished runner-up to Harding’s Kinga Szarzynska by just 0.63 seconds.
Guest also added to her Trojan debut by placing third in the one-mile run behind a duo of Southern Indiana runners by just more than three seconds.
Freshman Jasmine Riley paced all runners in the 60-meter dash in qualifying with a time of 7.65. She followed with a 7.57 time in the finals and placed second behind Sadi Giles of Texas State.
In the team events, the men’s team placed fifth in the 4×400 meter relay with a time of 3:20.92, which was 3.16 seconds behind first place, North Greenville.
In the 4×400 meter relay, the women’s team placed third with a time of 3:58.24, which was 4.66 seconds behind first place, Texas State.
Next, the Trojans will return to the Birmingham this weekend for the Samford Invite.
