| Senior Will Vese won the 60-meter hurdles at Friday's season-opening Leonard Hilton Memorial. |
HOUSTON ? Senior Will Vese made yet another triumphant return to his hometown of Houston on Friday, as he won the 60-meter hurdles at the season-opening Leonard Hilton Memorial at Bill Yeoman Fieldhouse.
Vese, the two-time defending Southland Conference Champion, crossed the tape in an NCAA provisional time of 7.90, besting Louisiana Tech's Bill Walker by nine one-hundredths of a second. The Roadrunners co-captain advanced to the evening final after recording the second-fastest preliminary time with his 8.03 clocking, which was just three ticks behind Walker.
Meanwhile, junior Johnathan Whittaker placed second in the high jump with a personal-best 6-10 ? (2.09m), tying him for the third-highest leap in school history, and freshman Jeff Herron was fourth with his jump of 6-8 ? (2.04m). Senior Gaston Griffin was the other Roadrunner to post a second-place showing, as he circled the oval twice in 49.52 in the 400 meters.
Senior Tommy Wolfe placed fifth in the pole vault with a clearance of 15-1 (4.60m), which tied his personal best set a year ago at the Houston Opener (No. 4 UTSA history), and freshman Eric Doll raced to a 15:41.06 (No. 5 UTSA history) en route to fifth-place honors in the 5,000 meters.
The Roadrunners finished second to Rice in the team standings with 68.25 points despite not having a majority of their athletes compete in their strongest events.
UTSA is back in action next Saturday, Jan. 24, when it travels to Albuquerque, N.M., for the Cherry & Silver Invitational.