SAN ANTONIO — UTSA Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Aaron Fox announced Wednesday that he has added Australian state champion jumper Grant Szalek to the Roadrunners' 2019 signing class.
A native of Perth, Australia, Szalek already has won a pair of Western Australia state titles this year.
One of his country's top high jumpers, Szalek cleared a career-best height of 2.21 meters (7-3) to win the Coles 2019 Victorian Championships in March. That performance came less than one month after he topped 2.20m (7-2 ½) for gold at the Western Australia State Championships in Perth. He currently stands second in Australia and 16th in the world for his age group in the latest high jump rankings.
Also an accomplished triple jumper, Szalek won the Western Australia State Championships crown with a personal-best mark of 15.05m (49-4 ½) in February. He also skipped to a 14.75m (48-4 ¾) mark to win the Strive Program in February.
"We are thrilled to announce the addition of Grant Szalek to the Roadrunner Family," Fox said. "He's one of the top young high jumpers in the world and he also has a high ceiling for his future development in the triple jump. Our recruiting class gets better with each signee, and Grant certainly continues that trend. We can't wait for him to get to campus because we know he will have an immediate and positive impact on our program."
In 2018, Szalek turned in his top high jump of 2.16m (7-1) in finishing fifth at the Sydney Athletics Grand Prix. He cleared 2.15m (7-0 ½) to win the Perth Jandakot Airport Track Classic and he sailed over the bar at 2.12m (6-11 ½) for another win that December in his hometown. His top triple jump of 2018 was a 14.24m (46-8 ¾) measurement.
Szalek is the 15th announced member of UTSA's 2019 class, as he joins men's signees Jayton Acosta, Oquendo Bernard, Joel McFarlane, Jack Turner, Harrison Wade and women's signees Taylor Armstrong, Vera Chinedu, Ana Carolin Da Silva, Ingeborg Gruenwald, Sigrid Kleive, Natasha Purchas, Zoie Reyna, Amaya Scott and Maren Wilms.
