SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA women's track & field team will begin postseason competition this week when it competes at the Conference USA Indoor Championships in Birmingham, Ala. The two-day meet is scheduled to begin on Wednesday morning at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
The event will begin at 9:15 a.m. on Wednesday with the pentathlon and that will be followed by the long jump and weight throw finals at 4 and 7 p.m., respectively. The 5,000 meters and distance medlay relay finals along with the remainder of the running preliminary heats are slated to start at 4:25 p.m. Thursday will see the high jump contested at 11 a.m. that will be followed by the pole vault, triple jump and shot put three hours later. The meet will conclude with the remaining running event finals beginning at 1:15 p.m. (click here for the complete schedule).
The Roadrunners' 1,600-meter relay of Jennifer Arinze, Shantel Swift, Evelyn Clark and Paige Patterson comes into the week with the circuit's second-best time this season (3:43.72/second-best time in program history).
Meanwhile, Stephanie Wangui, the conference's defending champion in the 800m, currently ranks fifth with her season-best clocking of 2:11.65, which came at the John Thomas Terriers Invitational back on Jan. 29.
Gabriyella Torres (pentathlon/3,169 points) and UTSA's distance medley relay quartet of Wangui, Chelsea Taylor, Swift and Emily Perez both stand sixth (12:18.91), while Carolina Bellows (11-5 ¾/3.50m) and Mia Hicks (44-11 ½/13.70m) are seventh in the pole vault and shot put, respectively. Yulisa Abundis is in eighth place in the 5k (18:13.62).
Wangui won the 800m and UTSA's DMR successfully defended its title, as the Roadrunners finished in eighth place at last year's league meet.
UTSA has won a total of three conference team crowns and 60 individual/relay championships in school annals.