| Feb. 18, 2006
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4551
UTSA men capture first-ever SLC Indoor crown Photo Gallery | Complete Results | Day One Recap
HOUSTON – Behind individual titles from senior All-American Brandon Buteaux and sophomore Mthobisi Baloyi, the UTSA men’s track and field team captured its first-ever Southland Conference Indoor Championship on Saturday at Bill Yeoman Field House.
In a tight team race that came down to the final event, the Roadrunners scored 111 points to edge Sam Houston State (104.33) and defending champion Stephen F. Austin (103).
“I’m really proud of the way our team stepped up today,” head coach Aaron Fox (right) said. “We had our ups and downs on Friday, but we knew what we had to do today and we nailed it. I’m happy for the senior class. For them to get a conference championship on their way out means a lot to them and me.”
Buteaux scored a season-best and NCAA provisional-qualifying 5,357 points to hold on to first place in the heptathlon. The day-one leader posted marks of 8.25 in the 60m hurdles, 14-3 Ľ in the pole vault and 2:50.70 in the 1,000m to successfully defend his conference title.
Baloyi won the 800m, an event UTSA scored an amazing 30 points in with five Roadrunners in the top eight.
Senior Bryan Wolfe closed strong on day two, scoring 2,374 second-day points to jump all the way from sixth to second place. He clocked an 8.39 in the 60m hurdles, cleared 14-7 Ľ in the pole vault and ran 2:52.28 for 1,000m in contributing eight points to the UTSA effort.
Freshman Tommy Wolfe, Bryan’s younger brother, finished eighth with 4,874 points as UTSA scored 19 in the event.
Redshirt freshman William Vese and senior Marques Mitchell began the Roadrunners’ move on the track by combining for 13 points in the 60m hurdles. Vese finished second in 8.08 with Mitchell close behind in fourth in 8.15.
Sophomores Steven Brown and Cedric Harris posted 10 points in the 60m, placing third (6.87) and fifth (6.89), respectively, as UTSA moved into third place in the team race with 56 points. Brown advanced to the semifinal round Friday as the last qualifier, winning a coin flip to break tie.
“For Steven to get through to the semis on coin flip and score six points was a huge difference,” Fox said.
The Roadrunners jumped into second with 12 points in the 400m. Freshman Gaston Griffin earned runner-up honors with a 48.59 clocking behind Sam Houston’s Chris Edison (47.80), while senior T.R. Sissel was fifth in 49.28. That gave UTSA 68 points to move past Texas-Arlington (63), trailing SFA’s 80.
Even though UTSA was shut out in the shot put, the Roadrunners made a big move in the standings thanks to 30 points in the 800m final. Baloyi and junior Larry Brooks finished one-two with times of 1:53.17 and 1:53.83, respectively. Senior Justin Pitchford, junior Chris Layman and sophomore Eric Miller placed third (1:54.86), fourth (1:55.16) and fifth (1:55.58), respectively, as UTSA moved into first with 98 points ahead of SFA’s 91.
“We probably got a little more than we expected out of the 800,” Fox said. “We knew we had some depth in that event but to get 30 points got the ball rolling for the rest of the day.”
Junior Scott Briscoe added five points with a fourth-place finish in the 200m (21.95), putting the Roadrunners ahead of SFA by 12, 103-91, with just two events left.
SFA pulled to within three, 105-102, with 11 points in the 3,000m, against Baloyi’s seventh-place finish in 8:44.19.
That set up the finale with UTSA owning the top 4x400m relay time in the conference entering the meet. Senior David Burnett, Sissel, Griffin and Briscoe clocked a 3:17.34 for third, scoring six points. SFA took eighth, allowing Sam Houston to leap frog into second behind the Roadrunners in the final standings.
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