Junior Devon Bond cleared a season-best 6-11 ¾ (2.13m) on Saturday to win UTSA's second high jump title in program history.
ARLINGTON — UTSA received gold-medal performances from junior Devon Bond (high jump) and freshman Tyler Williamson (long jump) on Saturday at the Southland Conference Outdoor Championships and the Roadrunners will enter the meet's final day within striking distance of their second title in the last three seasons.
Bond cleared a season-best 6-11 ¾ (2.13m) to lead three Birds that finished in the top five and that mark ranks as the fifth-best performance in school history. Freshman Keith Benford, the Southland Indoor Champion and school record holder, placed fourth with his 6-9 ¾ (2.08m) clearance, while senior Johnathan Whittaker recorded the same mark but finished one spot behind his teammate due to more misses. The three combined for 19 points in the event.
Earlier in the day, freshman Tyler Williamson gave UTSA its first individual title of the meet when he broke the sand in a career-long 24-2 ¼ (7.37m). Fellow first-year teammate Adam Hebert leaped a personal-record 24-0 ¾ (7.33m) in his sixth and final jump to finish third, giving the Roadrunners a combined 16 points.
Their two championships pushed the program's all-time total 44 and 17 of those have come under the direction of eighth-year head coach Aaron Fox.
UTSA, which began the day in fourth place with 10 points, added 48 to that total on Saturday to move into second place in the team standings and they trail only Stephen F. Austin, which has scored 71 through eight scored events. McNeese State is third (51) and defending champion Southeastern Louisiana is fourth (48.5).
The Roadrunners received points from four other athletes on the day.
Freshman Richard Garrett Jr. put the shot 51-11 ¼ (15.83m), which was good for fourth place and five points.
The Birds received five more tallies when juniors Lucas Neeper and Kyle Kaase finished fifth and eighth, respectively, in the decathlon. Neeper easily set a new personal record with his 6,580 points, a total that was bolstered by the top pole vault measurement (pr 15-3/4.65m) of the competition, while Kaase scored 5,414 in the two-day event.
Rounding out the scorers was junior Brandon Chiuminetta, who clocked a season-best 9:17.80 in a sixth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, which added another three points to the squad's total.
UTSA sent a dozen runners through the preliminary running heats and into Sunday's finals, including three each in the 100m, 800m and metric mile and that was second only to UT Arlington's 13. Meanwhile, the Lumberjacks sent six, followed by the Lions' five and Cowboys' three.
Senior All-American Teddy Williams easily qualified for the finals of both short sprints. The three-time All-American won his 100m heat with the second-fastest time of the evening (10.51) and his victory in the opening deuce heat produced the fourth-best clocking (21.26).
The three-day meet concludes on Sunday.