Men’s Track Has Great Debut to Outdoor Season

Thursday, March 19

Houston, TX

Rice University

Kirk Baptiste Spring Break Invite

Photo by: Juan DeLeon/Juan DeLeon Creative

Men’s Track Has Great Debut to Outdoor Season

3/19/2026 11:50:00 PM | Men's Track & Field

By: Anthony Roberts (ar186@rice.edu)

HOUSTON – The Rice men's track and field team had a great season debut Thursday at the University of Houston's Kirk Baptiste Invite.

Sultan Bakare picked right up where he left off from indoors, with the third-best mark in program history in the shot put to finish second, while adding a second-place showing in the hammer throw.

Marcus Gaitan and Brandon Martz provided a 1-2 punch in the 1500m, while Jordan Edmondson finished fifth.

Juan Marais claimed the discus title in his first competition of the year, with a throw of 56.01m.

Patrick Elizondo finished second in the high jump with a clearance of 1.90m.

RESULTS (Top Finishers)
400m
3. Christos Economides – 52.41

400m Hurdles
5. Max Bacon – 53.83

800m
2. Matthew Gaitan – 1:52.93
4. Edward Bocock – 1:55.40
6. Kamden O'Connor – 2:02.62

1500m
1. Marcus Gaitan – 3:57.31
2. Brandon Martz – 3:58.98
5. Jordan Edmondson – 4:05.40
6. Vedant Bhattacharyya – 4:06.62
7. William Thames – 4:10.50

Discus
1. Juan Marais – 56.01m / 183-09
9. Luke Ivy – 28.46m / 93-04

Hammer Throw
2. Sultan Bakare – 59.14m / 194-00
4. Daniel Sowell – 56.07m / 183-11

High Jump
2. Patrick Elizondo – 1.90m / 6-02.75

Shot Put
2. Sultan Bakare – 18.06m / 59-03
4. Daniel Sowell – 16.10m / 52-10

UP NEXT
Rice readies for the annual Victor Lopez Classic next weekend.