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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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