SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA track & field teams will send 15 student-athletes to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to participate in the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on Wednesday-Saturday, May 25-28, at John McDonnell Field.
Men's competition will take place on Wednesday and Friday and the women will compete on Thursday and Saturday for the right to advance to the NCAA Championships. The top 12 finishers in each event will move on to the national meet on June 8-11 in Eugene, Oregon.
Nine Roadrunners on the men's side will travel to the Arkansas campus with three boasting marks that rank in the top 10 in the field.
Bashiru Abdullahi returns to the West Preliminary armed with the eighth-fastest time in the 110-meter hurdles with his record-setting time of 13.53 seconds posted in winning the Conference USA Outdoor crown. That clocking on May 15 at Park West Athletics Complex broke the school, meet and facility records and moved the Nigeria native into a tie for 14th nationally. He advanced to the national quarterfinal round a year ago before finishing 16th with a 13.87 clocking.
Christiaan Le Roux owns the 10th-best mark in the long jump field with a wind-aided leap of 7.77 meters (25-6) that earned him the silver medal at the C-USA Outdoor on May 14. The South African's wind-legal measurement of 7.73m (25-4.5) from the same competition moved him into the No. 5 spot on UTSA's all-time performers list. He placed 29th at last year's West Preliminary with a mark of 7.33m (24-0.75).
Jemuel Miller also ranks 10th in the region, and 20th nationally, as he begins his quest for a second All-America certificate this year in the triple jump. The true freshman from Barbados recorded his top outdoor mark of 16.07m (52-8.75) with a 2.1 meters-per-second tailwind in capturing gold at the C-USA Outdoor on May 15. He earned first-team All-America accolades after placing sixth with a school-record leap of 16.17m (53-0.75) at the NCAA Indoor in March.
The 4x100m relay team boasts the 13th-fastest time in the West with the school-record time of 39.34 clocked in winning the UTSA Invitational in March. The Roadrunners are slated to line up this week with Dennis Phillips, Diego Pettorossi, Trevion McCalla and Brice Chabot.
Pettorossi also qualified for the 200m with his time of 20.61 posted in the C-USA Outdoor prelims before he claimed the bronze a day later in 20.80. His season best puts him in a tie for 22nd in the field and third on the program's all-time performers chart.
Grant Szalek will join Miller in the triple jump, as the senior from Australia totes the 19th-best mark in the West. He skipped to a wind-aided measurement of 15.71m (51-6.5) to secure silver at the C-USA Outdoor earlier this month. Szalek will make his second straight West Preliminary appearance after skipping to a 20th-place mark of 15.67m (51-5) last year.
Meanwhile, two-time defending C-USA Outdoor decathlon champion Jack Turner will compete in the long jump. The England native has leaped 7.52m (24-8.25), which came at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
Six Roadrunners will travel to Fayetteville this week on the women's side including three who rank in the top 20 in their respective events.
Ingeborg Gruenwald will look to add a second All-America certificate to her resumé in the long jump as she enters the meet with the ninth-best mark in the field. The Salzburg, Austria, native picked up the silver medal at the C-USA Outdoor with a leap of 6.37m (20-10.75) on May 14 and her season best of 6.42m (21-0.75) from the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays puts her 18th nationally. She was 13th at the NCAA Indoor to collect second-team All-America accolades and she finished 20th at this meet a year ago with a 6.28m (20-7.25) effort.
Fresh off striking gold in the 400m hurdles at the C-USA Outdoor, Alanah Yukich will tote the 17th-fastest time in the field into this week's races. The Australian won her first league title in dramatic fashion with a season best 57.93 clocking after a dive at the finish line to edge Marshall's Ashonti Warner. Last year, she clocked a 58.78 to advance one round before finishing 14th in the quarterfinal in 58.42.
Danielle Spence is in search of her second All-America honor in the triple jump and the senior will enter the meet with the 20th-best mark in the field, a 13.17m (43-2.5) registered in a runner-up finish at the Alumni Muster on April 30. The Jamaican posted a wind-illegal 13.51m (44-4) measurement at the Mt. SAC Relays and recently nabbed the silver at the C-USA Outdoor with a wind-aided 13.51m (43-1.75) leap. The nine-time conference medalist, who placed 37th at this meet last year, earned second-team All-America status in 2019 after a 13th-place finish at the NCAA Indoor.
Oreoluwa Adamson also is entered in the triple jump competition, tied for 41st in the field with her season-best mark of 12.66m (41-6.5) posted at the C-USA Outdoor. The England native placed 24th in the long jump at the 2021 NCAA West Preliminary.
Lacee Barnes is the lone Roadrunner on the women's set to take part in two events. The senior from the Cayman Islands will compete in the shot put armed with the 44th-best mark in the field, a 15.53m (50-11.5) heave registered at the Roadrunner Invitational in April. She is ranked 46th in the discus with her school-record throw of 51.67m (169-6) from the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in March. Barnes placed 28th in the discus with a 50.02m (164-1) measurement at last year's meet.
Marilis Remmel is slated for the javelin and owns the 42nd-longest throw in the field. The sophomore from Estonia unleashed a season-best toss of 47.06m (154-5) at the Mt. SAC Relays in April.
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