SAN ANTONIO — UTSA Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Aaron Fox announced Tuesday that he has added Ingeborg Gruenwald, the reigning Austrian U20 champion in the long and triple jumps, to the Roadrunners' 2019 signing class.
A native of Salzburg, Gruenwald took top honors in the both horizontal jumps in her age group in 2018. She leaped to a mark of 6.08 meters (19-11 ½) to win the long jump and skipped to an 11.62m (38-1 ½) to grab gold in the triple jump at the Austrian U20 Championships in Dornbirn last September. She also swept the Austrian U18 titles in both events during the indoor and outdoor seasons and went on to place third at the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games with a 6.20m (20-4 ¼) mark.
Gruenwald started her 2019 season off with a pair of runner-up finishes at the Austrian Indoor Championships in Vienna. She touched the sand at a distance of 6.10m (20-0 ¼) for the silver in the long jump and measured 11.67m (38-3 ½) for second in the triple jump.
"We're thrilled to announce that we've signed Ingeborg Gruenwald," Fox said. "She is the top youth jumper in Austria with a very high ceiling on what she can accomplish in the future. We believe she will have an immediate impact on our program as soon as she arrives."
Gruenwald owns a personal-best leap of 6.23 meters (20-5 ¼) in the long jump, a wind-aided mark she recorded in winning the 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival, and a top triple jump of 12.10m (39-8 ½) in a victorious performance at the 2017 Austrian U20 Indoor Championships. That year also saw her sweep the U18 crowns in both jumps during the indoor and outdoor campaigns. Her top wind-legal long jump of 6.14m (20-1 ¾) was registered in a runner-up showing at the Arge Alp (The Association of the Alpine States) Championships in September 2018.
Gruenwald is the 14th announced member of UTSA's 2019 class, as she joins women's signees Taylor Armstrong, Vera Chinedu, Ana Carolin Da Silva, Sigrid Kleive, Natasha Purchas, Zoie Reyna, Amaya Scott and Maren Wilms and men's signees Jayton Acosta, Oquendo Bernard, Joel McFarlane, Jack Turner, Harrison Wade.
