| UTSA's 2008 Individual SLC Champions (l-r): Tommy Wolfe, Teddy Williams, Steven Brown, Will Vese, P.J. McGowen and Luke Johnson (photo by Stephen Pinchback). |
HOUSTON ? On the strength of individual titles from seniors Steven Brown (200 meters),Luke Johnson (shot put) and Will Vese (60m hurdles), sophomore Teddy Williams (60m) and junior Tommy Wolfe (heptathlon), the UTSA men’s track & field team won its third consecutive Southland Conference Indoor Championship on Saturday at Bill Yeoman Field House.
The Roadrunners scored a school-record 122 points to easilyoutdistance Stephen F. Austin, which finished in second place with 101.5. UT Arlington rounded out the top three with 98.5 points.
"I am at a loss for words," head coach Aaron Fox said after the meet."I couldn't be prouder of this group of guys than I am right now. Everysingle member of this team contributed to this championship and to havesix individual champions says a lot about the effort we saw out therethis weekend. These guys weren't willing to give up the title without afight and they were able to stay on top. To win by 21.5 points showshow much all of them wanted it."
Coupled with freshman P.J. McGowen's high jump championship on Friday, UTSA claimed an SLC-record six individual titles, which pushed the program's all-time mark to 40, 16 of which have come during Fox's six-year tenure.
Wolfe got the ball rolling when he captured the program's fourth heptathlon title in the last five years with a personal-best 5,251 points (No. 4 in UTSA history). That mark bettered his previous career best by 337 points (4,914 at last year's conference meet). Standing in second place and trailing by 114 points entering the day, the Raymondville native took over lead when he won the morning's first event, the 60-meter hurdles, in a personal-best 8.40 and never looked back. Meanwhile, freshman Lucas Neeper, who stood last with just two events remaining, rallied for a sixth-place finish to earn three all-important points after finishing second in the final two events (pole vault/1,000 meters).
Johnson followed with the first conference title of his four-year career when he launched a personal-best toss of 56-3 ?/17.16m (No. 2 in UTSA history) in the shot put. It was the second shot title in school annals and first since 2002 (Jason Reynosa).
The afternoon session saw the beginning of the running finals and, despite having just 10 qualifiers from the previous evening, the Roadrunners took command of the meet when they netted three championships and a total of 59 points.
Vese successfully defended his 60-meter hurdles title when he crossed the tape in 7.98. The Houston native picked up the program's fifth championship in UTSA history and became the first back-to-back winner since Carl Johnson won three in a row for the Roadrunners from 2001-03.
The 60 meter dash followed and Williams' phenomenal campaign in the event continued when he stopped the clock in 6.71 to win the first championship in school annals. Brown (6.82) and Vese (6.93) finished third and sixth, respectively, to give UTSA a whopping 19 points in the event.
After junior Gaston Griffin (seventh) and freshman John Matthews (eighth) combined for three points in the quarter, sophomore Bryan Ugochukwu picked up eight in the 800m when he clocked a 1:55.57, a mere three-tenths of a second behind Lamar's Ewan Simpson.
The Roadrunners slammed the door on any hopes that Stephen F. Austin had at winning the meet when Brown (pr 21.60/No. 2 UTSA history) and Williams (pr 21.78) finished 1-2 in the 200m. The victory gave Brown a total of 24 points in the meet, which clinched high point scoring accolades for the Mesquite native. He became the fifth Roadrunner in school history to earn the honor and his total was the most at the event since Justin Youngblood had 30 for UTSA in 2002.
Other scorers on the day for UTSA included sophomore Alton St. Rose, who placed sixth in the triple jump (47-11 ?/14.61m), and sophomore Corey Vargas, who finished eighth in the mile (4:23.99).
The Roadrunners are back in action when they travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 14-15. Athletes who have provisionally qualified for national meet include McGowen (high jump/7-1/2.16m), Williams (60m/6.66) and Vese (60m hurdles/7.87).