COLLEGE STATION — UTSA's 1,600-meter relay team missed an 11-year-old program record by just two-hundredths of a second to highlight its two days of action at this weekend's Charlie Thomas Invitational.
The foursome of Jennifer Arinze, Shantel Swift, Evelyn Clark and Paige Patterson passed the baton in 3:43.72 in the 17th and final event of the two-day meet and that was good for sixth place in the field of 18 relay squads. That came up just short of the school mark of 3:43.70 that was clocked on Jan. 22, 2005, at the Wes Kittley Six-Way. The Roadrunners now own Conference USA's second-best time this season.
"Yesterday, I had the opportunity to race in the 5k and it was an amazing race," said Yulisa Abundis, who clocked a 18:13.62 en route to seventh-place on Friday night in the 5,000 meters. "Everything felt good and I'm really excited to see what will happen in future races."
UTSA's other scorer from the meet was Gabriyella Torres, who scratched out one point in Friday's pentatlon with 3,169 points. That currently stands as the league's fifth-highest multi-event score of the season.
"We were happy with how we competed this weekend," Director of Track & Field/Cross Coutry Aaron Fox said. "The Conference USA Championships are almost upon us and we are making great improvements toward that meet. Overall, this weekend was a success."
The Roadrunners accounted six points and finished in 12th place in the team standings. Meet host Texas A&M claimed the team title with 144 points, while Arkansas (102.2) and Clemson (93) rounded out the top three.
UTSA will be back in action next Friday, Feb. 12, at the Howie Ryan Invtiational in Houston.