EL PASO — UTSA saw three more athletes win individual titles on Sunday and the Roadrunners led the team standings through 17 scored events and again after 19, but Western Kentucky was propelled by a record-breaking performance in the 200 meters and five individual/relay crowns of its own to successfully defend its team title on Sunday at Conference USA Championships.
It was all Roadrunners for the majority of the of the final day of action of the four-day meet.
UTSA, which entered the final day with a five-point lead over Rice in the team standings, saw that advantage swell to 24 after picking up a combined 19 points in the first event of afternoon, the discus.
Kelsey Benoit led the way with his second-place finish. The junior from San Clemente, Calif., registered a personal-record toss of 168-7 on his sixth and final attempt of the competition and that allowed him to move all the way up from seventh place.
Meanwhile, Victor Perez, who came into the meet seeded 10th in the field of 19 throwers, finished third with a season-best measurement of 167-4 (51.01m), while Derek Fenton placed fifth (166-9/50.83m) and Gabe Vargas was eighth (161-7/49.25m).
Kaylon Sellers then added eight more points to UTSA's team total and extended the edge to 32 after skipping to a silver medal in the triple jump.
The sophomore from Beaumont broke the sand in a career-best 50-9 ½ (15.48m) on his sixth and final jump and that allowed him to move up from third place. It was an improvement of more than two feet from his previous PR and also now stands as the second-best performance in program history. Western Kentucky's Ventavius Sears won the event and he led a 13-point effort by the Hilltoppers with his leap of 50-11 (15.52m).
The Roadrunners' lead swelled to 38 following a third-place finish in 400m relay. The UTSA foursome of Sellers, Byron Taylor, Mikael Dawkins and Desmond Jefferson passed the baton in 40.26. WKU sped to the gold medal in 39.41, while Southern Miss was second (39.94).
The advantage dropped to 28 after meet host UTEP racked up 22 points in the 1,500m to move into second place (93-65), but Patrick Prince rallied for a victory in the 110m hurdles.
The C-USA leader skimmed the barriers in 13.92 to edge Western Kentucky's Jonathan Hayden (13.98) by six one-hundredths of second and that put the Roadrunners back in front by 38. It marked UTSA's eighth all-time victory in the event at a conference meet (fourth since 2012), which is its most in any discipline.
Vasha Sheriff then raced to fourth place in the next event, the 400m, and he did so with a personal-record time of 45.72. UTEP's Emmanuel Korir circled his home oval in 44.53 and broke the 19-year-old meet record with his clocking of 44.53, which now ranks third in the nation this spring. Korir helped the Miners rack up 12 points in the event, which cut UTSA's lead to 31 (108-77). Meanwhile, WKU saw Emmanuel Dasor (45.43) and Sears (45.55) finish second and third, respectively, and the Hilltoppers moved into third place with their 73 points.
Western Kentucky picked up 18 more points and cut the deficit to 17 (108-91) in the 100m when Julius Morris led a 1-4-6 finish. Morris broke the meet's 13-year-old record with his time of 10.15, while Eli Minor (10.36) and William Bush (10.51) finished behind their teammate.
Luca Chatham earned two points and pushed the advantage out to 19 with his seventh-place effort in the 800m (1:59.79). UTEP's Michael Saruni (1:47.48) out-kicked Middle Tennessee's Eliud Rutto (1:47.74) for the gold medal and the Miners picked up 14 points in the event to tie WKU for second place with 91 points.
Randy Bermea followed by picking up UTSA's fourth individual title of the meet in the 400m hurdles when the league leader heading into the meet cruised to victory in a season-best time of 51.76. It marked the program's seventh all-time conference crown and UTSA short hurdlers now have won five league titles since 2011. That extended the lead to 20 points (120-100), as Western Kentucky saw its two hurdlers finish fourth and fifth, while UTEP did not have a finalist.
"Seeing all the hard work I've put in this season pay off with a win and season best was incredible," Bermea said. "After battling injuries since November, I'm so thankful that my coaches and teammates believed in me and helped push me through the difficult times. All the credit goes to them for rallying around and supporting me out there. I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished this season."
In a remarkable turn of events, Western Kentucky finished in the top four spots in the 200m, which is believed to be a first in C-USA annals, and the Hilltoppers jumped the Roadrunners in the team standings with the 29-point effort to go in front, 129-120. Morris successfully defended his league crown and broke the meet's 11-year-old record with his time of 20.28, which now stands ninth nationally. Meanwhile, Dasor (20.55), Sears (20.58) and Minor (20.75) rounded out the top four.
However, the pole vault finished shortly thereafter and Barrett Brock was victorious with a new personal record of 16-9 ¼ (5.11m), which was a four-inch improvement from his previous career best. The program's first-ever league crown in the event marked its fifth individual crown of the meet, which pushed its all-time total to 69. Forty-two of those gold medals have come under the direction of Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Aaron Fox, who is in his 15th season leading the Roadrunners.
Chad Gates added a seventh-place performance in the event with his clearance of 15-1 ½ (4.61m), which gave UTSA a combined 12 points and it retook the lead over Western Kentucky, 132-129.
However, the Hilltoppers went back in front for good after Endalow Takele raced to fourth place in the 5k and WKU took a two-point edge over the Roadrunners (134-132) into the final event of the night, the 1,600m relay.
Western Kentucky, the league leader coming into the weekend, won the final discipline of the meet in a time of of 3:06.51 to clinch their second team championship in as many years. UTSA's quartet of Sheriff, Jefferson, Mason Loiodice and Taylor finished third in 3:09.68.
WKU finished the meet with 144 points, while UTSA scored 138 and UTEP rounded out the top three with 117.
The Roadrunners will return to action in two weeks at the NCAA Championships Preliminary Rounds. The three-day meet is scheduled to get underway on Thursday, May 25, in Austin.
