SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA men's track & field team will continue postseason competition this weekend when it participates at the NCAA Championships Preliminary Rounds. The three-day meet is scheduled to get underway on Thursday afternoon at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kan, and the Roadrunners will be represented by seven athletes that will compete in a total of five events.
Leading the way is the 400-meter hurdles duo of Jurmarcus Shelvin and Randy Bermea.
Shelvin comes into the meet in 11th place nationally with his personal-best time of 50.21 registered back on March 26 at the Ricardo Romo Invitational. Meanwhile, Bermea is 13th with his career-best clocking of 50.56, which came the following weekend at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. Bermea is coming off a second-place performance on May 15 at the Conference USA Championships, while Shelvin was one spot back in third. The preliminary heats are scheduled to get underway at 5 p.m. on Thursday and the top three finishers from each heat plus next six times will advance to Friday's quarterfinals, which are scheduled for 7:45 p.m. The top three finishers from each quarter plus next best three times will advance to the national semifinals in Eugene, Ore.
UTSA also will see two of its athletes compete in the 110m hurdles.
Patrick Prince owns a season-best time of 14.03, which came at the Texas Relays, and Justin Gerbrecht raced to a PR of 14.19 two weeks ago at the C-USA Championships. The duo placed fourth and fifth, respectively, two weekends ago at the conference meet. The opening round is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Thursday and the quarters are slated for 7:20 p.m. the next night.
The Roadrunners' other track competitor will be Dusan Makevic, who will run in the 3,000m steeplechase at 9:30 p.m. on Friday. Makevic owns a season-best time of 8:52.86 and is assigned to the second of three quarterfinals. The top three from each heat plus next best three times will advance.
Ty Anderson (high jump) and Kelsey Benoit (shot put) will represent the Roadrunners in field event competition on the final day of the meet.
Anderson, who is scheduled to compete at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, recorded a career-best clearance of 7-0 ½ (2.15m) back on March 26 at the Ricardo Romo Invitational and he is coming off a fifth-place effort at the C-USA Championships. The top 12 finishers this weekend will advance to the national semifinals.
Meanwhile, Benoit registered a career-best measurement of 58-1 ¼ (17.71m), which came on April 9 at the Roadrunners Invitational, and he earned a bronze medal on May 15 at the league meet. This weekend's action is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Saturday and the top 12 finishers will move on.
