SAN ANTONIO — If the current Conference USA standings are any indication, the UTSA men's track & field team is poised to compete for yet another league championship at next week's indoor meet in Birmingham, Ala. The two-day postseason event is scheduled for Feb. 24-25 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
The Roadrunners, who have won either an indoor or outdoor conference crown in each of the past 10 seasons, currently lead the league in five events. UTSA athletes also reside in second place in five disciplines and another stands in third place, giving the Birds a strong chance of winning the ninth indoor championship in program history.
Leading the way is Dusan Makevic, who owns the circuit's top times in both the 3,000 meters and 5k. His marks of 8:08.35 and 14:01.36 have broken long-standing school records this year and his 5,000m time currently ranks 39th nationally. He also is a part of the squad's league-leading distance medley relay quartet that has clocked a top time of 10:10.04 this season and Luca Chatman, Kaylan Harris and Kyren Hollis make up the other three spots on that foursome. The senior from Sabac, Serbia, also owns the conference's second-fastest mile clocking (adjusted time of 4:02.86), which ranks second on UTSA's all-time performers chart.
Barrett Brock made his way to the top of the pole vault rankings last Friday at the Howie Ryan Invitational following his season-best clearance of 16-0 ¾ (4.90m) and Adrian Riley will enter next week's heptathlon as the league leader following his career-best 5,151-point performance two weeks ago at the Charlie Thomas Invitational.
Other Roadrunners ranking second in the conference include Ty Anderson in the high jump (PR 7-0 ¼/2.14m/36th in country), Gabe Vargas in the shot put (PR 57-7 ¾/17.57m), Victor Perez in the weight throw (PR 61-8 ¼/18.80m) and the 1,600m relay team of Vasha Sheriff, Harris, Hollis and Jurmarcus Shelvin (3:11.78).
Shelvin also sits in third place in the 400m with his personal-best time of 47.76, which was recorded at the season-opening Texas A&M 11-Team Invitational.