| Junior Jessica Jones raced to a personal-best 13.74 in the 100-meter hurdles on Saturday. |
AUSTIN ? Junior Jessica Jones punched her ticket to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships in the 100-meter hurdles to highlight action for the UTSA women’s track & field team at the Texas Twilight held Saturday at Myers Stadium.
Jones, a Hightower High product, skimmed the hurdles in a personal-best and regional-qualifying time of 13.74 seconds to finish third overall and second among collegiate competitors. That time bettered UTSA’s No. 4 all-time performer’s previous personal record of 13.76 registered in winning the 2008 Southland Conference crown and was 0.18-second improvement from her previous season best of 13.94 posted last week in winning the UTEP Invitational.
Lacena Golding-Clarke, representing Puma, won the hurdles in 13.20, while Destiny Lucas of Texas was the top collegian in 13.65.
Jones also helped the 400m relay team finish eighth in 47.40, joining senior Shanelle Slaughter and sophomores Shavonne Armbrister and Kayla Thomas. Additionally, she ran anchor leg along with Armbrister, Thomas and sophomore Jayde James on the sixth-place 1,600m quartet that passed the baton to a season-best 3:54.16.
Also on the track, Armbrister circled the Myers Stadium oval in a personal-best time of 56.98 to place sixth among collegians (10th overall) in the 400m, while Slaughter raced to a season-best 12.32 for seventh among collegians in the 100m.
In the distance races, James shaved more than 11 seconds off her previous personal best in the 1,500m, stopping the clock in 4:43.14 to place fifth in the fast section, while freshman Courtney Nelson took third in the grueling 3,000m steeplechase with a season-best 12:03.66.
In the field, freshman Lindsey Nguyen skied into the No. 2 spot on UTSA’s all-time pole vault performers list with a 10-8 clearance to finish eighth. Nguyen, who broke the indoor school record by topping 10-10, is less than five inches shy of Stephanie Henslee’s school standard of 11-0 1/4.
Slaughter leaped to a season-best 18-6 measure for second place among collegians and eighth overall in the long jump, while freshman Amber Byars placed eighth in the hammer with a throw of 134-9.
The Roadrunners return to action next weekend at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia and the Rice Twilight in Houston.