NEW ORLEANS — The UTSA track & field teams appear in the top 50 in seven different #EventSquad rankings in this week's report by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
The UTSA women rank in the top 50 in five events, including two in the top 10, while the men stand in the top 50 in a pair of disciplines.
USTFCCCA #EventSquad rankings places a rank order to a program's "squad" of athletes in a particular event, using the cumulative season-best qualifying marks from a team's top-four ranked athletes on the national descending-order list. As with the national descending-order list for qualifying and seeding purposes, marks are subject to be converted due to track size and/or altitude. A team must have four or more athletes with a valid season-best mark recorded with TFRRS (Track & Field Results Reporting System) to achieve a ranking in a particular event.
Behind the tandem of Faith Roberson and Alanah Yukich, the Roadrunners are ranked fourth nationally in the women's 400-meter hurdles with a total time of 4:02.68, which equates to an average of 1:00.67. UTSA is just ahead of Minnesota and behind only LSU, Clemson and Colorado in the event. Roberson owns the school record with a time of 57.54 and Yukich, who initially broke a 29-year-old UTSA standard in the event in March, is just behind with a season-best 57.57 clocking to rank 1-2 in Conference USA and 10th and 14th, respectively, in the nation. Maren Wilms (1:03.43) and Mackenzie Grimes (1:04.14) round out the group.
The UTSA women currently stand sixth nationally in the triple jump with a total distance of 49.09 meters (161-1), which is an average of 12.27m (40-3.25), to rank just ahead of Fresno State and behind only Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Rice and California. All-American and school record-holder Danielle Spence leads the quartet with a season-best mark of 12.54m (41-1.75), while Johanna Soover is second on the squad with a measurement of 12.22m (40-1.25). Ingeborg Gruenwald (12.17m/39-11.25) and Oreoluwa Adamson (12.16m/39-10.75) finish out the crew and all four currently rank in the top 10 in conference.
The Roadrunners stand 14th in the women's long jump with a total of 24.18m (79-4) for an average of 6.04m (19-10), just ahead of Georgia Tech and Mississippi State and close behind Arizona State and Penn State. Gruenwald, the 2021 C-USA Indoor champion, paces the unit with a 6.27m (20-7) leap, followed by Sigrid Kleive (6.07m/19-11), Amaya Scott (5.96m/19-6.75) and Adamson (5.88m/19-3.5). The group takes up four of the top eight spots on the latest C-USA list in the event.
UTSA's women rank 31st in the shot put behind the 1-2 punch of school record-holder Maia Campbell (15.95m/52-4) and Lacee Barnes (14.60m/47-10.75), along with Scott (12.52m/41-1) and Kleive (11.99m/39-4). Campbell and Barnes also rank second and fourth, respectively on the latest league list.
The Roadrunners sit 41st nationally in the women's javelin behind the duo of Marilis Remmel, who currently owns the school record with a 45.55m (149-6) throw, and Kleive, who previously had the program's top all-time mark of 45.51m (149-4) posted in March. Those two also rank 3-4 in the conference, while Scott (38.47m/126-3) and Wilms (28.67m/94-0.75) make up the rest of the group.
For the men, the long jump crew ranks 29th in the nation with a total distance of 28.56m (93-8.5), which averages out to 7.14m (23-5.25). Christie Le Roux owns the team's top wind-legal mark with a 7.48m (24-6.5) leap, followed closed by Sam Healy's 7.47m (24-6.25) measurement. Joel McFarlane (6.93m/22-9) and Justin Wright (6.68m/21-11) round out the top four in the event. Healy has a wind-illegal season best of 7.64m (25-0.75), and Le Roux has posted a windy 6.54m (24-9) jump to rank 1-2 in C-USA.
Behind C-USA leader Bashiru Abdullahi, the Roadrunners currently sit 35th nationally in the men's 110m hurdles with a total time of 59.07, good for an average of 14.77. Abdullahi peeled off a wind-illegal time of 13.61, which leads the league and is the fastest time recorded by a Roadrunner under any conditions, while his wind-legal season-best time of 13.84 stands 31st on the latest national qualifying list. Gabriel Green (15.03), Wright (15.07) and Jack Turner (15.13) finish out the unit for UTSA.
The Roadrunners will travel to College Station for the Alumni Muster, which will be hosted by Texas A&M on Saturday, May 1, at E.B. Cushing Stadium.
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