HOUSTON – The University of St. Thomas women's track and field team continued to improve their marks as they competed at the University of Houston's Alumni Invitational this past weekend.
Ny'Cierra Hinton set two school records in the program's young history, in both the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes. The freshman from Waco also claimed new personal records in each event.
In the 100-meter dash, Hinton turned in a time of 12.65 seconds, which is now the fourth-best time reported by a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference runner in the event. She also finished with faster times than three NCAA Division I runners in the event.
Hinton's 200-meter dash time of 26.29 seconds placed 34th out of 46 competitors in a meet that was mostly contested by Division I programs. She finished ahead of eight Division I competitors, including four from Tulane and two from Houston Baptist.
UST teammate Christina Stinson also turned in her best 200-meter time of the season, finishing the race in 26.35 seconds, good for 36th at the meet. Hinton and Stinson now have the third- and fourth-best showings in the SCAC this season; their times were also the top marks in the conference this season running against a headwind.
Stinson's time of 58.62 seconds in the 400-meter run placed 11th out of 17 competitors at the meet. She already owns the best time in the SCAC this season, having turned in a time of 58.08 seconds at the Trinity Invite last month.
In the 800-meter run, UST's Samantha Hernandez set a new personal best with a time of 2 minutes, 31.21 seconds. Her time ranked 10th out of 15 competitors – including three Division I athletes – and also ranks 10th among all SCAC competitors in the event this season.
Jocelyn Olivarez finished seventh in the 3,000-meter run with a time of 11:10.98, ahead of two runners from Prairie View A&M and another from HBU.
In the 4x100-meter relay race, UST's quartet of Hinton, Kaela Sawyers, Clydajia Williams, and Jamaya Coaster finished with a time of 49.88 seconds, the second-best mark by a SCAC relay team in the event this season.
This weekend, the Celts will return to action when they head to San Antonio for the Incarnate Word Invitational. The two-day event is scheduled to start Friday.
