Completed Event: Track and Field at Texas Relays on March 26, 2025 ,
Track & Field
at Texas Relays
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Wednesday, March 26
Austin, Texas
Grand Canyon
at
Texas Relays
Photo by: John Harris
Lopes compete at Texas Relays, Bobcat Invitational
3/30/2025 3:10:00 PM | Track and Field
GCU men's 4x400-meter relay team sets school record in Austin
The Grand Canyon track and field team competed at the Texas Relays in Austin and the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos over the weekend.
The Lopes sent 27 student-athletes to the Lone Star State with success at both competitive meets.
The opening weather of the Texas Relays — a huge meet with over 4,700 athletes — left something to be desired as teams battled the rain.
"We had a lot of good early-season performances in Texas, especially with the rainy, adverse conditions on the first couple of days," GCU head coach Tom Flood said.
Down in San Marcos, about 30 miles south of Austin, junior Taliyah Booker and senior Aaliyah Rifort-Delem got GCU going with 24.07- and 24.20-second runs, respectively.
"I thought that both Taliyah Booker and Aaliyah Rifort-Delem got us started off quickly on Thursday evening with a couple of nice 200 meters at Texas State," Flood said.
Back in Austin on Thursday night, GCU also had some standout performers.
"Both Alyssa Blockburger (800 meters) and Daviciea McCartney (400-meter hurdles) also had a couple of nice performances in the rain on Thursday night at the Texas Relays," Flood said. "Daviciea actually qualified for the 400 hurdles final on Friday evening, but we decided not to have him participate because he had also already run two other events (110 hurdles and 4x400 preliminary) on Friday morning."
Blockburger ran a time of 2 minutes, 9.61 seconds in the 800 to finish 12th in the large field. McCartney finished the 400-meter hurdles with a qualifying mark of 51.23.
"We finished the long weekend at Texas Relays in fine style, as both of our men's and women's 4x400 meter relay teams qualified for Saturday's finals and the men finished third overall with a school record and No. 4 NCAA West Region time of 3:06.73," Flood said.
The record-setting men's relay team consisted of junior Ben Stratman, senior Cam Wilmington, junior Miguel Rosario III and senior Joshua Gittens. GCU's time broke the school record of 3:06.83, set in 2023 by a relay team that also included Stratman.
"We will get back at it again this Friday at a special five-way meet at Long Beach State with perennial track and field powerhouse teams Oregon (2025 NCAA women's indoor national champions), USC (2025 NCAA men's indoor national champions) and LSU (25 national titles)," Flood said. "We are truly grateful and honored to be included to compete against the nation's best track & field programs, we will definitely be living life in the fast lane."
The Battle of the Beach meet is set for Friday with events beginning at 10 a.m.
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The Lopes sent 27 student-athletes to the Lone Star State with success at both competitive meets.
The opening weather of the Texas Relays — a huge meet with over 4,700 athletes — left something to be desired as teams battled the rain.
"We had a lot of good early-season performances in Texas, especially with the rainy, adverse conditions on the first couple of days," GCU head coach Tom Flood said.
Down in San Marcos, about 30 miles south of Austin, junior Taliyah Booker and senior Aaliyah Rifort-Delem got GCU going with 24.07- and 24.20-second runs, respectively.
"I thought that both Taliyah Booker and Aaliyah Rifort-Delem got us started off quickly on Thursday evening with a couple of nice 200 meters at Texas State," Flood said.
Back in Austin on Thursday night, GCU also had some standout performers.
"Both Alyssa Blockburger (800 meters) and Daviciea McCartney (400-meter hurdles) also had a couple of nice performances in the rain on Thursday night at the Texas Relays," Flood said. "Daviciea actually qualified for the 400 hurdles final on Friday evening, but we decided not to have him participate because he had also already run two other events (110 hurdles and 4x400 preliminary) on Friday morning."
Blockburger ran a time of 2 minutes, 9.61 seconds in the 800 to finish 12th in the large field. McCartney finished the 400-meter hurdles with a qualifying mark of 51.23.
"We finished the long weekend at Texas Relays in fine style, as both of our men's and women's 4x400 meter relay teams qualified for Saturday's finals and the men finished third overall with a school record and No. 4 NCAA West Region time of 3:06.73," Flood said.
The record-setting men's relay team consisted of junior Ben Stratman, senior Cam Wilmington, junior Miguel Rosario III and senior Joshua Gittens. GCU's time broke the school record of 3:06.83, set in 2023 by a relay team that also included Stratman.
"We will get back at it again this Friday at a special five-way meet at Long Beach State with perennial track and field powerhouse teams Oregon (2025 NCAA women's indoor national champions), USC (2025 NCAA men's indoor national champions) and LSU (25 national titles)," Flood said. "We are truly grateful and honored to be included to compete against the nation's best track & field programs, we will definitely be living life in the fast lane."
The Battle of the Beach meet is set for Friday with events beginning at 10 a.m.
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