| Freshman Aimee Jonas earned a bronze medal in the heptathlon on Saturday. |
HUNTSVILLE ? Freshman Aimee Jonas finished third in the heptathlon to highlight second-day action for the UTSA women’s track & field team on Saturday at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships.
Jonas made up one spot in what was a tight race throughout the seven events, scoring a personal-best 4,746 points to take the bronze behind the Stephen F. Austin tandem of Ebbonye Johnson (4,894) and Tabitha Riley (4,782).
In fourth-place with 2,927 points after the first four events on Friday, Jonas leaped to a 17-2 measure in the long jump and then posted a 100-6 mark in the javelin before clocking a 2:28.91 in the grueling 800 meters, all season-best marks, to wrap up the two-day event.
Senior Kari Michalik also scored points for the Roadrunners, notching a sixth-place finish with 4,520 points for her third consecutive top-eight finish in the conference heptathlon. She made up two spots on the final day, recording marks of 14-10 in the long jump, an event-best 117-5 in the javelin and a season-best 2:24.11 in the 800m.
Senior Brittany Epps also tallied three points for UTSA, placing sixth in the long jump with a 19-5 ? effort, while senior Rikki Gray and Jonas both cleared 5-5 in the high jump to tie for ninth place, which as part of a three-way tie ended up being worth 0.33 points apiece due to a Central Arkansas (transition from Division II) athlete placing in the top eight.
In the team standings, UTSA has 15.66 points and stands seventh after eight events. SFA leads with 73.33, followed by Texas State (63) and Sam Houston State (58).
In preliminary action on the track, the Roadrunners fared well with eight athletes advancing to Sunday’s finals.
Four of those stayed alive with an impressive performance in the 800m. Freshman Jayde James and sophomores Dana Mecke and Faith Barlow finished first (2:18.40), second (2:18.42) and fourth (2:19.06), respectively, in their heat, while freshman Kim Brooks won the other heat with the seventh-fastest time of the day, a 2:19.58. Mecke also advanced to the 1,500m final with a 4:48.06 clocking to win her heat with the second-best time of the evening.
Sophomore Jessica Jones made it through both hurdles races, stopping the clock in a season-best 13.80 in the 100m hurdles and racing to a 1:02.98 in the 400m hurdles. Junior Ashley Jackson turned in the sixth-fastest time in the 200m, a season-best 24.31.
The final day gets underway with the field events at 1 p.m. and the running finals at 5 p.m. on Sunday.