SAN ANTONIO – Sunday proved to be a big medal day for the Roadrunners, as UTSA track & field captured four medals en route to a fifth-place men’s team finish on the final day of the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Championships at the Park West Athletics Complex. Closing out the night, freshman Ida Breigan was also named AAC Freshman of the Year to sweep that honor for the year.
The biggest event of the day for the Roadrunners was the men’s triple jump, allowing UTSA to rack up 23 points toward the team total in one swoop. Leading the pack, Bridgetown, Barbados junior Jemuel Miller used his sixth and final attempt to reach 16.08m (52-9.25) and capture the silver medal. Logging a career-best measurement of 15.83m (51-11.25) on his fourth pass, Round Rock, Texas junior Jacob Jenkins collected the bronze with the 25th-best jump in the nation. Also putting points in the pot, Sydney, Australia junior Gabriel Binion went a season-long 15.66m (51-4.5) for fourth place, while Perth, Australia junior Dylan James went a season-long 15.57m (51-1) in fifth.
It wasn’t the only individual score on the day for Binion, making his first appearance of the season in the high jump and notching UTSA’s first Sunday points with a sixth-place 2.03m (6-8) height.
The first medal of the day went to the quartet of Binion, Brice Chabot, Nabil Tezkratt and Dennis Phillips, who blew up the UTSA 4x100-meter relay record with a silver-medal 38.89-second clocking – the 14th-best time in the country. The women’s 4x100m squad of Ibiso David-West, Thennelle Williams, Lauren Roy and Kiah Dubarry-Gay logged a season-best 45.03 time for the second-fastest time in UTSA history and fourth place.
Notching the first running score of the day, Funabashi, Japan senior Ayumi Kobayashi clocked in at 13.52 in the 100-meter hurdles to finish fourth.
A junior from Smithville, Texas, Chabot checked in at 10.24 in the men’s 100-meter final to earn the bronze medal, while Little Elm, Texas senior Dennis Phillips came up hurt in the race and still finished in 10.96 for eighth place. On the women’s side, Ballymena, Northern Ireland junior Lauren Roy was ninth in the 100m final at 11.82 seconds.
Yet another score for Chabot in the books, as the junior crossed the line in fifth place of the men’s 200-meter with a time of 20.81 seconds. St. Catherine, Jamaica junior Thennelle Williams added a fifth-place 23.90 in the women’s 200m.
Closing off the meet, a short-handed men’s 4x400-meter relay team of Martín Kouyoumdjian, Noah Rhodes, Tezkratt and AJ Tyler still secured fourth place with a combined time of 3:12.13. The women’s relay of David-West, Dubarry-Gay, Sarah Bell and Breigan crossed the line in sixth at 3:43.91.
Fresh off completing the heptathlon over the meet’s first two days, Talinn, Estonia freshman Edlin Laur secured a fourth-place height of 1.76m (5-9.25) in the individual high jump, while Froland, Norway sophomore Madelen Sveinungsen also tied for eighth at 1.68m (5-6). Getting the day started for the UTSA women, Goldie, Australia senior Isabella Simonelli earned sixth place in the discus on an opening-toss measurement of 44.47m (145-10). Closing out the field events in the men’s discus, senior Paul Bouey was 10th with a mark of 45.75m (150-1).
Representing the distance corps, San Antonio freshman Melody Espinoza earned eighth place in the women’s 5,000-meter run on a time of 17:25.14.
Accruing 81 points on the three-day championship event, the Roadrunner men finished in fifth as a team. With 39.5 points on the board, the women’s squad was 10th overall.
Following the conclusion of the meet, Breigan was presented with the AAC Outdoor Freshman of the Year trophy, locking in a sweep of the award across the indoor and outdoor season for the rookie from Fredrikstad, Norway.
Next on the schedule for the Roadrunners meeting the qualifying standard is the NCAA West Regional Preliminary Round in Fayetteville, Ark., May 22-25.
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