HOUSTON — Sophomores Keith Benford (high jump) and Phil Steinert (hammer) opened the UTSA men's track & field team's outdoor campaign with school records at this weekend's Victor Lopez Classic.
Benford easily won the high jump with his leap of 7-1 ¾ (2.18m) and that broke the previous standard of 7-0 ½ (2.15m) he shared with P.J.McGowen (2008), Steve Ortiz (2002) and Justin Youngblood (2002). The Pflugerville native defeated runner-up Roger De La Cruz (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) by five inches for the second outdoor title of his young career and his mark currently ranks sixth in the country.
Meanwhile, Steinert demolished his previous personal best in the hammer with his silver-medal performance. The Round Rock native tossed the implement 192-7 (58.61m) to break Luke Johnson's four-year-old standard (185-8/56.60m) by nearly seven feet. His previous career record, 170-11 (52.10m), came a year ago at the Trinity Open. Sam Houston State's Chris Calle easily won the event with his throw of 223-4 (68.08m).
Junior Ivan Garcia got his season off to a strong start with a winning performance in the 10,000 meters. The Laredo native circled the Holloway Field/Ley Track 25 times in 32:04.61 and raced past second-place finisher John Marshall Millsap (Dallas Baptist) by more than 21-and-a-half of seconds.
Sophomore Nate Brunette was the other UTSA athlete to earn a gold medal. The Humble native peeled off a 21.37, which was a new PR, into a 2.5 meters/second headwind and he won the event by 36 hundredths of a second.
The Roadrunners also saw freshman Keyunta Hayes and sophomore Darryl Wyrick finish second and third, respectively, in the 400-meter hurdles.
Hayes clocked a 53.54 in the first outdoor meet of his young collegiate career, while Wyrick crossed the line in 53.67 and he just missed his personal record by nearly a half second.
UTSA scored 80.5 points at the scored meet that featured five other Southland Conference schools. Stephen F. Austin (107) edged Sam Houston State (106.5) by a half point for the team championship.
The Birds return to action on Friday, April 1, at the Trinity Alumni Classic.
