EL PASO — All-American Keyunta Hayes succesfully defended both his hurdles titles, Jared Tyler captured a gold medal in the discus and UTSA won its second consecutive Conference USA Outdoor Championship on Sunday at Kidd Field. The Roadrunners now have won either an indoor or outdoor league crown in each of the past 10 seasons.
Hayes raced to a time of 13.89 in winning the 110-meter hurdles and he followed that performance with a victory in the 400m hurdles (50.50) an hour later. It marked the fourth 400m hurdles conference championship of his illustrious career and the senior from Tyler now has finished first in the 110m hurdles in his last three seasons of competition (he redshirted in 2013).
Meanwhile, Tyler registered a winning measurement of 172-1 (52.46m), a season best, to top the field of 21 discus throwers and capture the Roadrunners' second straight league victory in the event.
Coupled with Ty Anderson's gold medal in the high jump on Saturday, UTSA won a total of four individual titles during the four-day meet and that pushed their all-time total to 64. Thirty-seven of those have come under the direction of Fox, who is in his 13th season leading the program.
"To win conference titles in our first two years in the league just speaks to the hard work and dedication that this group of guys had this season," said Fox, who was named the league's Coach of the Year after the meet. "We lost a very successful class of seniors a year ago and to come back and successfully defend our championship with a relatively young team shows the future of our program is bright. This was a complete team effort and I am proud of each of our four individual champions who helped put us over the top. I also want to recognize my coaching staff. Without their hard work and dedication every day at practice and on the recruiting trail, none of this would be possible."
UTSA finished with 165 points, which was seven more than meet host UTEP (158) and 10 more than Western Kentucky (155). The point total was the second-highest in school annals, trailing only the 172 that the Roadrunners scored in winning the championship a year ago.
UTSA, which entered Sunday in third place behind the Hilltoppers (62) and Miners (60) with 54 points, began the day with a 25-point effort in the discus.
Andrew Akens (second/167-5/51.04m), Victor Perez (fifth/159-8/48.66m), Levi Jordan (seventh/158-4/48.25m) and Andris Visitins (eighth/PR 156-2/47.60m) joined Tyler in scoring points and that propelled the Roadrunners into the lead for the first time during the meet.
However, the advantage was short-lived, as Western Kentucky won the 400m relay in 39.35, while UTSA's foursome of Aaron LeJeune, Dionte Robinson, Jurmarcus Shelvin and Jonas Gutierrez placed seventh (41.38), and the Hilltoppers went back on top, 83-81.
A combined 10-point performance by Mike Medrano (second/3:46.57) and Dusan Makevic (seventh/3:54.73) in the 1,500m put the Roadrunners back in front by eight, 91-83.
Once again, WKU rallied, this time in the triple jump. The Hilltoppers netted nine points in the event and UTSA picked up just one with Kaylon Sellers' eighth-place performance (PR 47-8 ½/14.54m) and the score was tied at 92 with nine events remaining.
Gutierrez (third/14.30) and Justin Gerbrecht (eighth/14.71) joined Hayes in scoring points in the 110m hurdles and the Roadrunners went in front for good, but Western Kentucky and UTEP both made valiant efforts.
Christopher Hall clocked a career-best 45.67 (No. 2 on UTSA's all-time performers list) in a runner-up effort in the 400m, but the Hilltoppers countered with a combined dozen, including Emmanuel Dasor's victory (45.61), and the Birds clung to a two-point edge (117-115).
Robinson raced to third (10.51) in the following event, the 100m, and UTSA's lead grew to four (123-119) and Medrano then crossed the finish line fourth in the 800m (1:53.53) to stretch the advantage to nine (128-119).
Hayes and Shelvin (third/51.28) combined for 16 points in the 400m hurdles and that gave the Roadrunners their largest lead of the meet, 23, at 144-121.
However, Western Kentucky began to cut into its deficit with a 20-point effort in the 200m, but Hall matched his personal record with a 20.93 en route to third and the advantage stood at 150-141 with three events left on the schedule.
UTSA did not score in the 5k and UTEP took advantage with a 25-point effort and the Hilltoppers added eight and the three squads were separated by a mere two points (UTSA 150/WKU 149/UTEP 148) with two events to go.
The pole vault finished soon thereafter and Barrett Brock all but clinched the Roadrunners' victory with his second-place performance. The junior from Hallettsville cleared the bar in a career-best 16-5 ¼ (5.01m) for the third-best effort in program history.
UTSA put an exclamation point on the victory with a school record in the final event of the meet, the 1,600m relay. The quartet of Shelvin, Robinson, Hayes and Hall passed the baton in 3:07.44 to match the 14-year-old mark established by Andis Goble, Chris Rowland, Christopher Dean and Justin Youngblood during the 2001 campaign.
The Roadrunners will return to action in two weeks at the NCAA Championships Preliminary Rounds in Austin. The three-day event is scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 28.