SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA men's track & field program will have three participants at the NCAA Outdoor Championships this weekend. The four-day meet got underway on Wednesday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, Iowa, but the Roadrunners do not begin action until Friday evening.
Sophomore Keith Benford will compete in the high jump beginning at 5:20 p.m. on Friday. The 2011 Southland Conference Champion qualified for the national semifinals two weeks ago with his third-place performance at the NCAA Preliminary Rounds in Eugene, Ore. He cleared 6-11 (2.11m) in the first round, which was good for fifth, before upping that mark to 7-0 ¼ (2.14m) in the quarterfinals. The Pflugerville native broke the program record with his season-opening clearance of 7-1 ¾ (2.18m) at the Victor Lopez Classic. He placed 13th at last year's national meet in Eugene, Ore.
Sophomore Richard Garrett Jr. will make his second NCAA appearance of the season when he competes in the shot put at 5:30 p.m. on Friday. The Garland native is coming off a pair of school-record performances at the preliminary rounds, where he finished in sixth place. He put the implement 60-0 ½ (18.30m) in the quarterfinals after registering a 58-10 ¾ (17.95m) measurement in the first round. That came on the heels of a second-place effort at the Southland Outdoor, where he established a then-program-record toss of 58-6 (17.83m). Garrett Jr. earned second-team All-America honors at March's NCAA Indoor.
Senior Devon Bond will look to improve upon his All-America, fifth-place showing at last year's national meet when he competes in the triple jump at 11:05 a.m. on Saturday. The two-time Southland Champion advanced to the semifinals after skipping to a 52-1 ¼ (15.88m) mark two weeks ago. He owns a season best of 52-6 ½ (16.01m), which was recorded in his gold-medal performance at the conference meet.
The Roadrunners now have advanced three athletes to national meet three times in the last five seasons.
UTSA has seen five of its athletes earn a total of nine outdoor All-America certificates in school history and five of those honors have come under the direction of ninth-year head coach Aaron Fox.
New All-America guidelines have been established this year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and the first- through eighth-place finishers in an event will earn first-team accolades, while places nine through 16 will be second-team honorees and the remaining members of the 24-man field will be honorable mention selections, provided they register a mark.
Complete meet information, including broadcast information and live results, can be found by clicking here.
