Marais Wins Discus; Owls Finish Fifth at American Championships

Thursday, May 14

Denton, Texas

Rice University

American Outdoor Championships

Marais Wins Discus; Owls Finish Fifth at American Championships

5/17/2026 1:32:00 AM | Men's Track & Field

By: Anthony Roberts (ar186@rice.edu)

DENTON – The Rice men's track and field team closed out their stay at the 2026 American Outdoor Championships with a pair of podium visits Saturday in Denton, Texas. The Owls finished fifth as a team.

Juan Marais highlighted the day by setting the meet record in the discus with a huge personal best throw of 62.55m to win the event. His throw was a four-meter personal best and ranks sixth in the NCAA.

Christian Edgar reached the podium once again this year following a third-place finish in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.55.

The 4x400m relay squad of Edward Bocock, Connor McGrath, Vincent Nnanna and Jakob Gilbreth secured a fourth-place finish off a season-best time of 3:10.37.

Freshman Edward Bocock took sixth in the 400m hurdles, while Edgar finished eighth in the event.

Rice 4x100 team of Soga Adeyiga, Jakob Gilbreth, Connor McGrath and Drayden Dickmann finished sixth.

Jackson Moran added a pair of points off a seventh-place finish in the 1500m.

Patrick Elizondo tied his personal best jump with a clearance of 2.03m to finish eighth in the high jump.

William Hagemeier added a point with a season-best clearance of 4.77m in the pole vault to finish eighth.

DAY ONE/TWO NOTES
Ty Hampton claimed the javelin title for the second time in the American Conference off a season-best 74.26m throw on his final attempt. Jack Greaves also secured a podium spot in second place with a throw of 71.82m.

Sultan Bakare used a personal best mark of 64.24m to finish second in the hammer throw, while Daniel Sowell's personal best throw of 59.41m finished fourth. Sowell added a seventh-place showing in the shot put.

Andrew Murray closed night two with a third-place finish in the 3000m steeplechase, while Brandon Martz finished fifth.

Alexander Männel had a fourth-place finish in the decathlon with 6,958 points, while Luke Ivy also scored points with a seventh-place finish.

Post Meet Reaction - Head Coach Jon Warren
"Overall, I'm really happy with how things went for us. We scored better than the paper said and finished higher as a team than the paper said, while still leaving points on the table over the three days. Obviously, you have to give credit to Juan for that monster personal best in the discus. He finally unleashed one, and it was awesome to see. Christian also ran a fantastic race in the 100m hurdles. The relays looked really good. Pat and William grabbed points. Lots to be happy with and lots that we can improve on moving forward. The season is not over yet; we look forward to having some guys in Fayetteville for regionals in two weeks. As far as the whole team, I'm proud of the results and am excited to build for future seasons."

RESULTS (Final Scoring)
110m Hurdles
3. Christian Edgar – 13.55 (+6)

400m Hurdles
6. Edward Bocock – 51.41 (+3)
8. Christian Edgar – 1:00.01 (+1)

1500m
7. Jackson Moran – 3:52.52 (+2)

4x100
6. Adeyiga, Gilbreth, McGrath, Dickmann – 40.61 (+3)

4x400
4. Bocock, McGrath, Nnanna, Gilbreth – 3:10.37 (+5)

High Jump
8. Patrick Elizondo – 2.03m (6-08.00) (+1)

Pole Vault
8. William Hagemeier – 4.77m (15-07.75) (+1)

Discus
1. Juan Marais – 62.55m (205-02) (+10)

DAY ONE/TWO EVENTS
Scored Events
3000m Steeplechase
3. Andrew Murray – 9:08.54 (+6)
5. Brandon Martz – 9:16.23 (+4)

Hammer Throw
2. Sultan Bakare – 64.24m (210-09) (+8)
4. Daniel Sowell – 59.41m (194-11) (+5)

Javelin
1. Ty Hampton – 74.26m (243-07) (+10)
2. Jack Greaves – 71.82m (235-07) (+8)

Shot Put
7. Daniel Sowell – 16.54m (54-03.25) (+2)

Decathlon
4. Alexander Männel – 6958 (+5)
7. Luke Ivy – 6428 (+2)

TEAM SCORES
1. Wichita State – 171.5
2. North Texas – 138
3. South Florida – 116
4. Charlotte – 90.5
5. Rice – 82
6. Tulsa – 78
7. East Carolina – 59
8. UTSA – 41
9. Tulane – 32
10. Memphis - 11

UP NEXT
Regional qualifiers for the NCAA West Prelims will be announced next week.