SAN ANTONIO — UTSA record-holders Gary Haasbroek and Danielle Spence will travel to Birmingham, Ala., to compete in the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships on Friday-Saturday, March 8-9, at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
Haasbroek will compete in the men's heptathlon, while Danielle Spence is in the women's triple jump field, marking the first NCAA Indoor qualifiers for each team since Richard Garrett Jr. finished fourth in the men's shot put in 2013 and Ryanne Dupree placed fourth in the women's pentathlon in 2006.
The heptathlon is scheduled to get underway at noon Friday with the 60 meters, followed by the long jump, shot put and high jump. The seven-event competition will resume at 11:45 a.m. Saturday with the 60m hurdles, followed by the pole vault and 1,000m.
Meanwhile, the women's triple jump is slated for 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
ESPN3 will stream the championships live starting at 5:30 p.m. CT March 8 and beginning at 4 p.m. March 9. A re-air of the championship will take place starting at 9 p.m. March 10 on ESPN2 and again at 9 p.m. March 11 on ESPNU.
Haasbroek will enter the heptathlon with the third-best point total in the field of 16 athletes, ranking closely behind Georgia's Johannes Erm (5,996) and Stanford's Harrison Williams (5,961). The freshman from Melbourne, Australia, scored 5,949 points to win the Houston Invitational on Jan. 25-26, breaking the school, Australian national, meet and facility records in the process. He also eclipsed the UTSA record in the long jump with a leap of 25-1 ¼ (7.65 meters) at that meet and was named Conference USA Field Athlete of the Week for his performance.
Haasbroek captured the C-USA Indoor title in the heptathlon with 5,559 points on Feb. 16-17 at the Birmingham CrossPlex in his only other multi-event competition this season, also establishing a meet record in the heptathlon pole vault with a 16-4 ¾ (5.00m) clearance. He will be the third Roadrunner to compete in the NCAA Indoor heptathlon, joining Brandon Buteaux, who scored 5,519 points for seventh place in 2005, and Justin Youngblood, who tallied 5,512 points for seventh in 2004.
UTSA's top national finish by a male is a third-place effort from Leonard Byrd in the 1996 NCAA Outdoor 400m, while Teddy Williams (60m) and Garrett Jr. (shot put) are tied for the best indoor showing of fourth.
Meanwhile, Spence will travel to Birmingham armed with the seventh-best triple jump measurement in the field of 16. The Kingston, Jamaica, native skipped to a mark of 43-10 ½ (13.37m) to win the C-USA Indoor crown at the CrossPlex on Feb. 17 and improve her own UTSA record set earlier this season. She entered her sophomore campaign with a previous personal best of 40-10 ¼ (12.45m) indoors and since has improved her PR by more than three feet. Spence will be the first Roadrunner to compete in the NCAA Indoor triple jump and just the second in the event overall, joining Starlite Williams, who finished eighth at the 1985 NCAA Outdoor.
Spence broke a 27-year-old school record in the triple jump with a 42-11 ½ (13.09m) effort in winning the event at the Houston Invitational on Jan. 26, eclipsing Portia Matthews' previous school standard of 41-7 (12.67m) by more than a foot and she was tabbed C-USA Field Athlete of the Week for her showing. She also has developed into one of the top long jumpers in program annals, as she secured a silver medal at the league meet with a personal-best leap of 19-8 ¾ (6.01m) on Feb. 16 to move into the No. 4 spot on UTSA's all-time performers list.
The top national finish by a UTSA female is third and it has been done three times. Jody Dunston collected bronze medals in the 1989 NCAA Indoor 3,000m and in the 10,000m at the 1989 NCAA Outdoor, while Teresa Neighbors finished third in the 55m at the 1990 NCAA Indoor.
