HOUSTON — Mia Hicks extended her program record in the discus and led a parade of three victories and a total of eight podium finishes at Saturday's J. Fred Duckett Twilight.
Hicks won her specialty event with a toss of 159-4 (48.56m). The sophomore's winning measurement came on her third attempt of the day and that topped the field of 18 throwers. It was a two-foot improvement from her previous best and she now ranks sixth on the Conference USA leaderboard.
Meanwhile, N'Dia Warren-Jacques topped the field of 21 shot putters with her measurement of 47-7 (14.50m). Three other Roadrunners — Maia Campbell (41-6 ½/12.66m), Cynthia Gonzales (39-0 ½/11.90m) and Brenttany Birdow (38-6 ¼/11.74m) — placed sixth through eighth, respectively. It marked her second gold medal of the campaign and she has finished in the top two in four of five meets this season.
Shalise Borden picked up the Roadrunners' other victory of the day when she won the hammer with a throw of 180-9 (55.09m), which came on her first attempt of the competition. Meanwhile, Katelynn Homb placed fourth with her mark of 163-4 (49.78m).
Christy Gilbert raced to a runner-up finish in the 400-meter hurdles with a career-best time of 1:00.84, while Sierra Andres was fourth in 1:03.02. Prairie View A&M's Deonca Bookman won the event in 1:00.72.
Emily Voss added a silver medal in the 3,000m steeplechase with a personal-best time of 11:17.42, which now ranks fifth on UTSA's all-time performers chart. Rice's Hannah Kay won the distance race in 11:06.12.
Syd Howells sped to bronze hardware in the 200m with her time of 23.95, but she finished as the second-fastest collegian. Rice's Hannah Jackson won the event in 23.33 and unattached competitor Laverne Jones was second in 23.89.
Elesha Alyn skipped to third place in the triple jump after breaking the sand in 40-7 ½ (12.38m). Rice's Daisy Ding captured the gold medal with her leap of 42-6 (12.95m).
Caroline Bellows registered the squad's other third-place performance of the day after clearing 11-7 ¼ (3.54m) in the pole vault. Bellows was the second-best collegian, as unattached athlete Marielle Brisbois won the event (12-7 ¼/3.84m) and Houston's Haley Houston (12-1 ¼/3.69m) finished ahead of UTSA's sophomore.
The Roadrunners will be back in action next weekend at the Longhorns Invitational. The two-day meet is scheduled to begin on Friday, April 28.
