NEW YORK, N.Y. — Paige Patterson's victory in the 400-meter dash highlighted Friday's opening day of action for the UTSA women's track & field team at this weekend's Armory Invitational.
Patterson topped the field of 71 college sprinters when she circled the New Balance Track & Field Center banked oval two times in 56.35. The senior from Dearborn, Mich., outran Ohio State's Tamani Wilson (56.43) by eight hundredths of a second for her first gold medal in the quarter as a Roadrunner.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Arinze clocked a 56.47 en route to third place, giving UTSA two podium finishes in the event. Chelsea Taylor made it three Roadrunners in the top 10 following her 10th-place effort, which came in 57.28.
Other day one action saw Syd Howells advance to the 60m semifinals, where she peeled off a career-best time of 7.53, which now stands third on this season's Conference USA leaderboard. However, the sophomore from Round Rock was unable to advance to Saturday's final despite the new personal best, as she was one hundredth of a second away from moving on. She crossed the finish line in 7.54 in the preliminary heats, which was the sixth-best time in the field of 84 sprinters.
"We had a great start today," Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Aaron Fox said. "We competed extremely hard and it was nice to continually hear UTSA being said on the loud speaker."
The two-day meet will conclude on Saturday and all the action is scheduled to get underway at 7:45 a.m. (CT).
