| Feb. 19, 2005
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907 UTSA men take second, women fourth at SLC Indoor Championships Complete Results | Online Results
HOUSTON – Bolstered by four individual and one relay title, the UTSA men’s track and field team finished second and the women took fourth at the Southland Conference Indoor Championships Saturday at Bill Yeoman Field House.
The men were in a tight race for the team title all day, finishing with 85 points behind team champion Stephen F. Austin’s 111.5 points. Texas-Arlington was third with 79.
“We fought till the end,” men’s coach Aaron Fox said. “We had a lot of guys step up in a lot of different places, but we fell short in a couple of places too. The guys competed their tails off and we’ll back here next year to compete for the title again.”
The women posted 88 points for fourth behind SFA (112.5), Sam Houston State (106) and Texas State (105).
“We’re a little disappointed with fourth place,” women’s coach James Blackwood said. “I thought we had a chance to win coming into the meet if we had been able to hit on all cylinders. We thought we would be up near the top, but I am proud of the way the team competed all the way through.”
Individually, junior Brandon Buteaux won the heptathlon crown and junior David Burnett took top honors in the 400m to lead the way for the men, while senior Rosalind Holmes swept the 60 and 200 meters and anchored the 4x400m relay team to gold on the women’s side, scoring 22.5 points for the meet.
Buteaux got the day started off with a bang for the men, scoring a career-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying 5,339 points to win the heptathlon. Junior teammate Bryan Wolfe was third with 5,014 points, while freshman Geronimo Acuna took seventh (4,615), giving the Roadrunners 18 points in the event.
Burnett won a close 400m final in 49.19 for his first conference title, while junior T.R. Sissel and sophomore Larry Brooks took fourth (50.35) and seventh (53.82), respectively.
“It feels great winning the 400 at conference,” Burnett said. “The coaches told me to get out strong, run hard from the start and to not focus on the ups and downs. Once I got out, I just focused on finishing strong and I was able to hold on.”
Holmes swept both sprint titles, winning her first two individual league crowns in the process. She sped to a school-record 7.45 clocking in the 60m before circling in 24.27 in the 200m. Holmes concluded the meet with a strong anchor in the 4x400m relay, helping sophomores Diane Smith and Lyndsey Sidney and junior Ryanne Dupree grab gold in 3:48.83.
“To win both sprints and the 4x4 means a lot to me,” Holmes said. “This is my last indoor season so I wanted to end it with a bang and I think I did. I wanted to help us win the team championship and we came up a little short, but we gave it our all. Now I’ll focus on indoor nationals and the outdoor season.”
Sophomore Morgan Moszee also had a strong meet, earning third-place finishes in the 60m (7.62) and 200m (24.67). Dupree posted a runner-up finish in the 60m hurdles (8.51), while Sidney took fourth in 8.77.
Freshman Steven Brown continued his impressive debut campaign for the men, finishing second in the 200m in 21.82 and sixth in the 60m in 6.89. Fellow freshman Cedric Harris was third in the 60m in 6.84 and third in the deuce in 21.86.
Junior Justin Pitchford notched a runner-up showing in the 800m with a 1:54.83 clocking, while Brooks and freshman Eric Miller placed sixth (1:57.93) and seventh (1:58.30), respectively.
Several individuals will participate in last chance meets in the next two weeks in attempts to improve their status for the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 11-12 in Fayetteville, Ark.
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