| 2009 Individual SLC Champions (l-r): Tommy Wolfe, Will Vese, Teddy Williams and Johnathan Whittaker (photo by Jason Brown). |
HOUSTON ? Led by a total of five individual titles, the UTSA men’s track & field team won its fourth consecutive Southland Conference Indoor Championship on Saturday at Bill Yeoman Fieldhouse.
The Roadrunners, who began the day in a first-place tie with Southeastern Louisiana, scored 120.5 points to easily outdistance runner-up UT Arlington (101).
Senior Will Vese won his third consecutive title in the 60-meter hurdles (7.87) and fellow senior Tommy Wolfe defended his heptathlon crown with a personal-record 5,256 points.
Meanwhile, junior All-American Teddy Williams not only won the 60m for the second year in a row (meet-record 6.64), but he also was victorious in the 200m by six one-thousandths of a second (21.834). He became the first athlete in five years to sweep the short sprints at the league meet (Courtney Dotson, Sam Houston State, 2004) and the two gold medals pushed his total to six SLC Championships in his three years as a Roadrunner.
Junior Johnathan Whittaker, who was victorious in the high jump on Friday night (6-11/2.11m), was UTSA's other winner during the two-day meet.
The Roadrunners now have claimed 45 individual and relay crowns in school history, 21 of which have come under the guidance of seventh-year head coach Aaron Fox.
"It's pretty hard to put into words what these guys have accomplished,"Fox said after the meet. "To have some ofour guys get a ring every year is amazing and to come back each seasonwith underclassmen and win is quite an accomplishment. It wasn't easy,but we performed how I thought we would and that is a credit to everyathlete on this team. Those guys are gamers and this meet is dedicatedto the seniors who have worked so hard the last four years and come outon top every time."
UTSA is just the second program in league history to win four indoor titles in a row. Lamar won six straight from 1980-85.
Just as he did a year ago, Wolfe kicked off the parade gold-medal performances with his win in the heptathlon. The Raymondville native, who opened the day with just an 11-point lead, opened the morning with a personal-record 8.41 in finishing second overall in the 60m hurdles, which was the first time he competed in the event this season. He followed with the second-best pole vault measurement (15-5/4.70m) and took a 296-point cushion into the final event, the 1,000 meters. The lead was more than enough, as Wolfe held on for the title despite finishing last in the 17-man field in the 1k (3:12.26), edging Southeastern Louisiana's Cory Roberts by a mere 21 points.
Meanwhile, sophomore Kyle Kaase, who began the morning in 10th place, moved up three spots to seventh with his 4,798 points to pick up two points for the Roadrunners. Kaase began his ascent up the standings with a career-best 8.79 in the 60m hurdles (No. 6 overall) and solidified his position with a third-place effort (14-9/4.50m) in his strongest event, the pole vault.
Those two performances pushed UTSA in front of the Lions, 55.5-51.5, but Southeastern Louisiana reclaimed the advantage after outscoring the Roadrunners, 16-3 in the triple jump.
With the running finals next on the schedule, it was all UTSA from that point forward.
The Roadrunners scored a combined 12 points in the first running event of the afternoon, the mile, and they went ahead in the standings for good.
Freshman Michael Cook led the way with his bronze-medal performance (4:19.12), while fellow freshman Cole Reveal (4:20.67) and junior Corey Vargas (4:23.48) followed in fifth and seventh place, respectively, with career-best performances.
Vese then became the second athlete in league history to win three 60m hurdles titles in a row, matching former Roadrunner Carl Johnson's three-peat from 2001-03.
The lead continued to swell one event later when Williams and sophomore Benga Adeeko (sixth/6.88) paired up for 13 points in the 60-meter dash.
Senior Gaston Griffin followed with a silver-medal performance in the 400m, circling the oval twice in 48.38, and junior Bryan Ugochukwu then posted a third-place effort in the 800m in 1:54.08.
A dozen more points were added to the ledger one event later in the deuce, as Williams picked up 10 more with his win and sophomore Caesar Slade finished seventh in 22.51.
The Roadrunners closed out the championship with an eighth-place finish in the 1,600-meter relay, as Ugochukwu, Griffin, freshman Isah Muhammed and sophomore Terrence Watson recorded a season-best 3:22.38.