MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Two-time defending champion UTSA held a lead through 14 scored events, but the Roadrunners could not withstand a late run by Western Kentucky on Sunday and they came up short in their attempt for a three-peat at this weekend's Conference USA Championships.
UTSA, the leader entering the fourth and final day of the meet, gave up its advantage after first scored event of the day, the 400-meter relay. Charlotte, which entered the day one point behind the Roadrunners in the team standings (59-58), went in front after finishing fourth, while UTSA's quartet of Aaron LeJeune, Mikael Dawkins, Patrick Prince and Davante Edwards scored two points with its seventh-place performance (41.61). Western Kentucky won the league title in 39.31.
However, the Roadrunners promptly retook the lead following a combined 17 points in the shot put, which gave them a 78-68 edge after 10 scored events.
Tyler Finke finished second with his measurement of 54-11 ½ (16.75m), while Kelsey Benoit was one spot behind his teammate following his put of 52-9 ¼ (16.08m). Victor Perez (46-3 ¼/14.10m) and Levi Jordan (45-6 ½/13.88m) accounted for UTSA's other three points in the event after placing seventh and eighth, respectively, with personal records. Western Kentucky's Nick Demaline captured the gold medal with his throw of 57-4 ¼ (17.48m).
The Roadrunners maintained the 10-point advantage over the 49ers after the following event, the 1,500m, despite not scoring, but the lead grew to 18 after Prince (14.28w) and Justin Gerbrecht (14.30w) placed fourth and fifth, respectively, the 110m hurdles, while Charlotte's Brian Kendrick finished eighth. However, Western Kentucky, which began the day in sixth place, won its third gold medal of the day when Vincent Wyatt crossed the line in 13.95 and teammate Jonathan Hayden was third in 14.16. That moved the Hilltoppers into third place with 64 points.
Jurmarcus Shelvin added a pair of tallies to UTSA's team total following a seventh-place effort (48.97) in the 400m, but WKU moved into second place after scoring a combined 14 with second- and third-place performances and the Hilltoppers trailed UTSA by 11 (89-78).
After Western Kentucky pulled to within five points after a third-place finish in the javelin, the Hilltoppers moved in front for good after racking up another 20, led by Kyree King's victory, in the 100m.
The score remained 104-89 in WKU's favor after the following event, the 800m, as neither team had an entry in the final.
Maor Seged won another gold medal for the Hilltoppers in the 400m hurdles and Hayden placed seventh, which gave Western Kentucky a combined dozen points, but UTSA countered with 18, as Randy Bermea (51.51), Shelvin (52.48) and Gerbrecht (52.89) finished second, third and fifth, respectively. The Roadrunners now trailed by nine, 116-107.
"It felt good to run the 400 hurdles again for the first time since Texas Relays, but I still have a lot of things to fine tune before regionals," Bermea said. "I knew I had to run well because Jurmarcus (Shelvin) really put his heart and soul into this meet by running the open 400 and 400 hurdles. I wanted to do well for him and my teammates, but, unfortunately, it wasn't the outcome we wanted. It will be good to get back on the track next week to get ready for regionals."
However, WKU went on to rack up 23 more points with yet another victory coupled with third-, fifth- and sixth-place finishes in the 200m to put the championship chase out of reach with just three events remaining.
UTSA's remaining points of the meet came in the final event, the 1,600m relay. The Roadrunners foursome of Kaylan Harris, Vasha Sheriff, Bermea and Shelvin passed the baton in 3:12.99, which was good for third place.
Western Kentucky finished with 148 points en route to its first C-USA Championship, while meet host Middle Tennessee (123) moved past the Roadrunners (113) on the strength of 20 points in the 5k for second place.
UTSA will return to action in two weeks at the NCAA Championships Preliminary Rounds. The three-day meet is scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 26, in Lawrence, Kan.
