SAN ANTONIO — UTSA will travel to Charlotte, N.C., for the Air Force Reserve Conference USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships, which will be held Thursday-Sunday, May 9-12, at Irwin Belk Track & Field Center.
The four-day meet will get underway at 1:45 p.m. CT Thursday with the first event in the women's heptathlon, followed shortly by the start of the men's decathlon at 2:15 p.m.
Friday's action is slated to begin with the women's hammer throw at 1 p.m., followed by the men's hammer at 3:30 p.m. The final day of the decathlon and heptathlon will start at 1:45 and 3:30 p.m., respectively, while the 10,000 meters is scheduled for 7 p.m.
On Saturday, field events will get underway with the women's discus and men's long jump at noon. Running events will start with the 1,500m prelims at 2:30 p.m.
The final day will get underway with the women's shot put and men's triple jump at noon, followed by running finals beginning with the 4x100m relays at 3 p.m.
Under the leadership of Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Aaron Fox, the Roadrunners will compete against Charlotte, FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Rice, Southern Miss, UTEP and WKU on both the men's and women's sides. Florida Atlantic, Marshall and UAB have a women's team only.
Men's Preview
The UTSA men enter the C-USA Outdoor Championships with 22 marks that rank in the league's top 10, including 12 that stand in the top five.
Luca Chatham owns the conference's second-fastest time in the 800m with a 1:50.11 clocking at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight last month, while Andrew Pirog stands second in the 400m hurdles with a 52.38 posted at the Alumni Muster on April 27.
Jake McDaniel totes the second-best point total in the decathlon with 6,648 registered in winning the Roadrunner Invitational in March and the Houston native also ranks fourth in the high jump with a 2.05m (6-8 ¾) clearance at the same meet.
Andre Douglas enters the meet sitting third in the triple jump with a leap of 15.44m (50-8) at the UTSA Invitational in March, while Patrick Prince turned in the league's third-fastest time in the 110m hurdles with his 13.98 clocking at the same meet.
Vincent Perez is armed with the fourth-best hammer throw in the conference, a 59.46m (195-1) measurement from the Roadrunner Invitational, and the senior from San Antonio also stands fifth in the discus with a 47.26m (155-1) effort posted at the J. Fred Duckett Twilight.
Jamal Anderson and Davante Edwards are tied for fifth in the high jump (2.04m/6-8 ¼), while Justin Wright is No. 5 in the decathlon (6,082). Additionally, both the 4x100m (40.67) and 4x400m (3:14.08) relay will enter the meet with the fifth-best time on the circuit.
The men tallied 109 points to place third at last year's C-USA Outdoor Championships in Houston behind Prince's win in the 110m hurdles and 10 additional podium finishes.
Prince clocked a 13.75 to race to his second straight league title in the high hurdles to lead the Roadrunners.
Also on the track, Andrew Pirog clocked a 52.33 to secure silver in the 400m hurdles, while the 4x400m squad of Austin Crocker, Desmond Jefferson, Byron Taylor and Vasha Sheriff set a school record with a 3:06.69 clocking.
In the field, Ty Anderson and Davante Edwards tied for second place in the high jump after both cleared 2.12m (6-11 ½) and Kelsey Benoit measured 17.44m (57-2 ¾) for runner-up honors in the shot put.
Additionally, Adrian Riley scored 7,576 points to earn silver in the decathlon.
The Roadrunners finished third with 96 points at the C-USA Indoor in February at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Chatham tallied a team-high 17.5 points, as the senior from Dallas won the mile in 4:10.09, finished third in the 800m in 1:52.56 and anchored the distance medley relay to the bronze medal.
Meanwhile, Gary Haasbroek was named Freshman of the Meet after winning the heptathlon with 5,559 points and also placing sixth in the long jump and seventh in the pole vault. He set UTSA records in the heptathlon (5,949) and long jump (7.65m) indoors and went on to earn second-team All-America accolades with a 10th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March. The Australian has yet to compete in a decathlon during his debut outdoor campaign.
UTSA has captured six conference outdoor championships, including back-to-back C-USA crowns in 2014-15. The Roadrunners also brought home trophies in 2001, '08, '10 and '12 as members of the Southland Conference.
The Roadrunners have won 69 individual and relay outdoor league titles, including 15 during their previous five C-USA Outdoor meets.
UTSA has been honored with 11 conference superlative awards, including double-winner Richard Garrett Jr., who collected C-USA Field Athlete of the Year and C-USA Field Performer of the Meet in 2014. Additionally, Aaron Fox has been named Conference USA Coach of the Year twice after garnering Southland Coach of the Year honors three times.
Women's Preview
The UTSA women will head to Charlotte with 14 marks that rank in the top 10 on the latest C-USA performance list, including seven that are among the top five.
Danielle Spence continues to lead the league in the triple jump with her school-record mark of 13.36m (43-10) registered in winning the Roadrunner Invitational on March 23. The sophomore from Jamaica currently ranks ninth in the West Region and 15th nationally in the event.
Olivia Esemena stands second on the circuit in the 100m with a personal best 11.48 clocking from the Alumni Muster on April 27, while Gabriyella Torres posted the conference's third-best heptathlon point total of 5,001 at the Roadrunner Invitational in March.
Caroline Bellows ranks third in the pole vault with her winning clearance of 3.88m (12-8 ¾) at the Texas A&M Invitational on April 13 and Orla Brothers boasts the third-fastest time in the 400m hurdles, a 1:00.12 recorded at the UTSA Invitational in March.
Maia Campbell has the fifth-best shot put mark in the league, a 14.61m (47-11 ¼) measurement that the junior from Converse Judson has posted twice, most recently in winning the Alumni Muster, while the 4x100m relay quartet of Sierra Andres, Vera Chinedu, Sydney Howells and Esemena own the fifth-best time in C-USA, a 45.94 posted at the Alumni Muster.
At last year's C-USA Outdoor Championships in Houston, the women scored 61 points for sixth place behind five podium finishes, headlined by Spence's silver-medal performance in the triple jump. She skipped to a mark of 12.93m (42-5 ¼) for second place as a true freshman.
Behind individual champions Spence and Torres, UTSA scored 52 points to place seventh at the C-USA Indoor Championships in February at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Spence accumulated a team-high 18 points with her gold-medal performance in the triple jump and a silver-medal showing in the long jump. She skipped to a career-best mark of 13.37m (43-10 ½) to better her own school record in the triple one day after leaping to a runner-up measurement of 6.01m (19-8 ¾) in the long. Spence advanced to the NCAA Indoor Championships, where she garnered second-team All-America honors after finishing 13th.
Torres collected her first career league crown by scoring 3,722 points in the pentathlon, as the senior from Port Isabel, Texas, became UTSA's eighth conference champion in the event.
UTSA has won five conference outdoor titles (1992-94, '96-97 Southland) and finished in the top three on eight occasions. The Roadrunners' top finish as members of C-USA is sixth, which they did in 2015 and last year.
The Roadrunners have collected 63 individual and relay conference outdoor crowns, including 2015 C-USA 1,500m champion Stephanie Wangui and high jump winner Whitney Flannel. UTSA has claimed 22 conference superlative awards.
