The Rice men’s track and field team achieved strong results at the 43rd annual Victor Lopez Classic, held at the Wendel D. Ley track, according to a March 28 announcement. Several athletes posted season-best performances and won event titles during the meet.
The team’s showing is notable for its high marks in multiple events, which could have implications for upcoming regional competitions. The event provided an opportunity for athletes to gauge their early-season form against conference rivals.
Ty Hampton returned to competition with a javelin throw of 74.19 meters, ranking seventh in the NCAA and leading the American Athletic Conference. Jack Greaves also had a successful debut with a throw of 69.19 meters, placing third in the conference standings. Sultan Bakare improved his shot put performance with an 18.27-meter throw to finish third and also placed fourth in hammer throw with a mark of 58.87 meters.
In distance events, Andrew Murray led a sweep of the top three spots in the steeplechase with a time of 8:57.86, followed by Brandon Martz and Riley Kuhlman. Edward Bocock won the 400-meter hurdles in 51.71 seconds.
Head Coach Jon Warren said after the meet: “This was a really good start to the season. We had a really good meet. Edward ran fantastic today, really impressive to see. Juan had a great throw in the discus, while Ty and Jack had a great season debut in the javelin. All three of them probably just qualified for regionals from this weekend alone.” Warren continued: “Sultan had another impressive weekend and has been great to see this whole year… Overall, we had a really good meet all throughout and I look forward to seeing how we build upon this for the coming weeks.”
Other notable performances included Juan Marais winning discus (57.87m), Ben Tijerina finishing second in the 5000m (14:52:40), as well as strong relay showings by Edgar, Adeyiga, Dickmann, and Gilbreth (40:38) who finished third in their event.
Rice will compete next at the Texas Relays.
