GEORGETOWN, Texas – St. Edward's men's track and field shifted quickly from its inaugural indoor season to its first outdoor meet, opening the spring with a new program record in the 4x100 Relay at the Central Texas Invitational, hosted by Southwestern University. 
 
CRISTIAN MENDOZA, RUDY QUINTELA, TYRIQ WILSON, and ANDRE MOORE combined for a second-place finish, clocking a 41.89 to beat last year's 41.96 set by Quintero, Moore, Wilson, and JORDON CHAPPELL at last year's Lone Star Conference Championships. 
 
"The men's 4x100 set a good tone for the season. We must get quicker to compete in the LSC, but getting the first run out of the way and running faster than last season is a win," St. Edward's Head Track & Field Coach Steven Cary says. "We also had several personal bests from sprints to distance." 
 
St. Edward's placed two in the top six in the 400, led by Wilson's new top time of 48.70, setting a new program standard to finish third. Quintela placed sixth at 50.15, and Mendoza just outside the top 10 at 12th, running a 52.11. ISAAC KIM placed 43rd in the 100 at 12.50. 
 
Freshmen JAVIER TILLERO and Archie Chesler paced St. Edward's in the 800, besting their indoor times at 2:01.57 and 2:09.49 to place 13th and 27th. Sophomore JOSIAH GUAJARDO finished 30th with a time of 2:10.43. 
 
Freshman ARLO GONZALES led a field of five Hilltoppers in the 1,500-meter run, placing third behind two Trinity runners with a time of 4:07.02. Tillero and WILLIAM SULENTICH earned top-20 finishes, placing 11th and 19th at 4:13.63 and 4:19.26. Guajardo (28th, 4:23.40) and Archie (31st, 4:27.07) also competed. 
 
Ben Bayly led St. Edward's in the 5K, clocking a 15:11.63 to finish second. MELECIO ORTIZ finished 15th at 16:00.27, followed by Gabe Hernandez in 22nd at 16:10.12. 
 
DAVID MARQUEZ placed 10th in the triple jump with a distance of 11.95 meters, and ninth in the long jump at 5.95 meters. 
 
"Overall, I'm pleased with the guys. A lot of people doubled or tripled, but we had a lot of fight across the board today," Cary exclaims. "Even though we were probably tired coming into this meet, the guys stepped up. We must bring this energy every time we set foot on the track. I look forward to building on this at Texas State in a few weeks." 
 
St. Edward's will compete in the Charles Austin Classic hosted by Texas State from Thursday, March 27, through Saturday, March 29.