March 24, 2011
ARLINGTON, Tex. - UT Arlington returns to action this weekend when it competes in the Mean Green Invitational.
Numerous Mavericks will compete in events for the first time this season, including Cordero Gray, who will make his debut in the 200m.
Romain Martin fresh off his third-place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships, will compete in the high jump, 4x400m relay and the pole vault.
Gray is also part of the men's 4x100m relay team that is hoping to rebound from a disappointing opening weekend. The relay team, ranked 36th nationally, clocked a time of 40.38 last weekend. The best time from last year was 40.06 and with Lionel Mungwari, Andrew Pettis and Clayton Vaughn, there are expectations to improve upon the mark.
Other athletes, like Esther Abuto are aiming to better personal-best times already set. Abuto, the defending Southland Conference champion in the 800m, ran a personal-best 2:11.31 in the event last weekend at the Horned Frog Invitational.
SLC Athlete of the Week Ivan Storic will continue his pursuit of the UT Arlington program record in the javelin throw. He turned in the second-longest throw in UTA history last weekend at the Horned Frog Invitational with a toss of 68.07 meters.
Casey Keeter is off to a strong start as well. He currently has the SLC's best marks of the season in discus, 51.26 meters, and shot put, 17.87 meters. Keeter also qualified for the SLC Outdoor Championships in the hammer toss.
