SAN ANTONIO — UTSA's women's track & field team will continue postseason competition this weekend when it competes at the NCAA Championships Preliminary Rounds. The three-day meet is scheduled to begin on Thursday afternoon at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kan., and four athletes will represent the Roadrunners in a pair of events.
Paige Patterson will compete in two events, as she will run in both the 400 meters and as part of UTSA's 1,600m relay. Joining Patterson on the mile relay will be Jennifer Arinze, Sierra Andres and Evelyn Clark.
Patterson comes into the meet with a top time of 54.20, which came in a season-best fourth-place performance on April 30 at the Bobcats Classic. The junior from Dearborn, Mich., registered a personal best that afternoon and she also recorded a fourth-place effort at the Ricardo Romo Invitational (March 26). She will compete in the fourth of six qualifying heats beginning at 7:20 p.m. on Thursday. The top three finishers from each heat plus next six times will advance to Friday's quarterfinals, which are scheduled for 6 p.m. The top three finishers from each quarter plus next best three times will advance to the national semifinals in Eugene, Ore.
Meanwhile, the Roadrunners' 1,600m quartet owns a season-best time of 3:38.18, which also came on April 30 at the Bobcats Classic. That was the second-fastest performance in program history and UTSA's mile relay has finished no worse than third in all eight of its races this spring. The group is coming off a third-place performance on May 15 at the Conference USA Championships. The event is scheduled to be contested at 9:25 p.m. on Saturday and the Roadrunners will race in the first of three quarterfinal heats. The top three from each heat plus next best three times will move onto the national semifinals.
