SAN ANTONIO ? The 10th annual UTSA Relays will be held this weekend at Blossom Stadium. The two-day event will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and will conclude with the women’s 1,600-meter relay at approximately 4 p.m. on Saturday. More than 2,000 high school, college and open competitors are expected to participate and real-time results will be provided here.
The Roadrunners will compete against teams from Huston-Tillotson, Incarnate Word, Southwest (N.M.), Texas A&M-Kingsville, Texas Lutheran, Texas State and Trinity in the non-scored meet.
UTSA has competed in three outdoor meets thus far this season. The Roadrunners turned in a solid showing at the UC Irvine Invitational last weekend in Irvine, Calif.
The Roadrunners men were led by NCAA Regional-qualifying performances by junior Johnathan Whittaker and freshman Jeffery Herron in the high jump. The pair tied for second place with their clearances of 6-10 ?. Four other athletes ? senior Tommy Wolfe (2nd/pr 15.11/110m hurdles), junior Gaston Griffin (3rd/49.07/400m), sophomore Kevin Hunt (2nd/10.95/100m) and freshman Greg Gabrisch (2nd/14-7 ?/pole vault) ? posted bronze-medal-or-better finishes at the two-day meet.
UTSA won six events at last year’s UTSA Relays, including Alton St. Rose in the triple jump, Whitaker in the high jump, Wolfe in the javelin and the 4x4 relay.
Sophomore Rebekah Hill led the women’s effort with a runner-up showing in the triple jump. She skipped to a 37-2 ? measure for the silver, just two inches behind Kim Lienhoop of Cornell (37-4 ?). Senior Ashley Jackson and junior Jessica Jones registered fourth-place finishes in the 100m (12.23) and 100m hurdles (14.39), respectively, while a freshman Amber Byars and sophomore Taelor Wilson moved into the Nos. 2 (134-8) and 4 (129-4) positions, respectively, on UTSA’s all-time hammer throw performers chart.
The women collected a half dozen gold medals at the 2008 UTSA Relays, including Dana Mecke in the 800m and 1,500m, Jones in the 100m hurdles and the 4x1, 4x2 and 4x4 relays.
