| Aaron Fox |
SAN ANTONIO ? The UTSA track & field teams kick off the 2009 indoor campaign on Friday when they travel to Houston for the season-opening Leonard Hilton Memorial. The single-day meet will take place on the campus of the University of Houston at Bill Yeoman Fieldhouse.
Fifty-five Roadrunners, 38 men and 17 women, will represent UTSA in nearly every event. They will compete against athletes from Houston, Houston Baptist, Jackson State, Lamar, Lousiana Tech, Northwood, Prairie View A&M, Rice, Sam Houston State, Southern, Southern-Baton Rouge, Southern-New Orleans, Stephen F. Austin, Texas-Pan American, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas State, Texas Southern and UT Arlington. Complete real-time results can be found here.
This year, three-time defending Southland Conference Men's Indoor Coach of the Year Aaron Fox takes over the women's program in addition to his duties with the men. The 2008 United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's Indoor South Central Region Coach of the Year has led the Roadrunners men to three consecutive Southland Conference Indoor Championships.
"This is an exciting time because we have combined the men and women into one program," Fox said. "The men are looking to keep going strong, while the women begin the process of reaching the goal of winning championships on Friday. Both groups have been working extremely hard the last two weeks and now it's time for them to transfer that work into meet conditions. Our goal tomorrow is to get our work in and get a feel for competing once again. Our ultimate goal is to peak at next month's conference meet."
The men, who return 18 letterwinners, are led by senior captains Will Vese and Tommy Wolfe. Vese is the league's two-time defending 60-meter hurdles champion and Wolfe won the league's heptathlon crown a year ago. Also back are 2008 SLC Freshman of the Year P.J. McGowen, who won the league's high jump title, and 60 meters champion, conference record holder and NCAA qualifier junior Teddy Williams.
The women return 12 athletes (seven letterwinners) from last year's squad that posted a seventh-place performance at the SLC Indoor Championships. Junior captain Dana Mecke, who won last fall's league cross country crown, is the team's lone returning individual champion, as she is the defending 800 meters title-holder. Senior sprinter Ashley Jackson and junior hurdler Jessica Jones join Mecke as captains of this year's team.