RELATED LINKSFinal results
HOUSTON — Senior Albert Cardenas raced to the third-fastest 3,000-meters performance in school history on Saturday to highlight the UTSA men's track & field team at this weekend's Houston Invitational/Multis.
Cardenas circled the Bill Yeoman Fieldhouse oval 15 times in 8:26.75 to win the first of two sections and he finished on top of the 42-man field. The Converse native not only shaved 22-and-a-half seconds off his previous career best of 8:48.22, which was recorded at this same meet a year ago, but he also vaulted to the top of the Southland Conference standings in his first 3k race of the season.
Meanwhile, sophomore Keyunta Hayes also moved to the top of the league leaderboard in his specialty event, the 60m hurdles. The Tyler native finished as the top collegian (fourth overall) with his personal-best time of 7.95, which was one-hundredth of a tick faster than the 7.96 he recorded at last year's New Balance Invitational. He now holds a commanding three-tenths of a second lead in the Southland standings. Competing in the hurdles for the first time in 2012, Hayes advanced to the afternoon final after crossing the tape in 8.01 in winning the second of five preliminary heats. That, too, was the top qualifying mark by a collegian.
Junior Roscoe Robinson was the Roadrunners' other gold medalist of the weekend, as he was victorious in Friday's B section of the long jump. The Huntsville, Mo., native broke the sand in a season-best 23-6 (7.16m) and he defeated Texas Southern's Aaron Rogers by nearly 11 inches.
UTSA also received top-three performances from senior Daniel Balbontin in the 5k (16:28.32) and sophomore Chrisshun Jamerson in the 800m (season-best 1:55.55) on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The six-time defending Southland Conference Champion Roadrunners return to action next weekend at the prestigious New Balance Invitational in New York City. The two-day event gets underway on Friday, Feb. 3, at the historic 168th Street Armory in upper Manhattan.