SAN ANTONIO – Fresh off a very successful appearance at the NCAA Track & Field Outdoor Championships at Hayward Field, the UTSA track & field team pulled in its largest haul of All-American credentials in program history, collecting 12 total certificates across the four individual qualifiers and two relay teams that competed last week in Eugene, Ore. Meanwhile, the women’s team finish was its highest since 1992.
The 2024 traveling party marked the largest national qualifier pool for the Roadrunners during the coaching tenure of Director of Track & Field and Cross Country Aaron Fox, who just completed his 16th season in the role. Fox began his career with the Roadrunners as an assistant coach in 2000 and has coached the men’s team since 2003 – taking over the combined team in 2008.
Capping off a phenomenal rookie year, Fredrikstad, Norway freshman Ida Breigan doubled her First Team All-American stash with an eighth-place women’s long jump measurement of 6.40m (21-0). Her performance marks only the third UTSA First Team All-American honor in the outdoor women’s long jump, the last recorded in 1996 by Hall-of-Famer Tameka Roberts – also the highest Roadrunner women’s outdoor finisher since 2007. It’s also the second honor of the year for Breigan, who finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a 6.38m (20-11.25) jump during her first career NCAA national postseason event.
Breigan’s finish put a score on the board for the Roadrunners, with the UTSA women finishing tied alongside Miami, NC State, Duke and Northern Arizona in 57th place as a team. It’s UTSA’s first women’s outdoor scoring performance since 2007 and the highest team finish since 1992. The Roadrunners ranked higher at this year’s championships than 65 other programs, including South Florida, Wichita State and notable power-conference squads such as Kansas, Maryland, Arizona State, Clemson and Auburn.
Piling on UTSA’s success in horizontal jumps, Sydney, Australia junior Gabriel Binion collected Second Team All-American recognition in the men’s long jump on opening day, hitting a mark of 7.55m (24-9.25) for 14th place. Binion is not up to three national honors after receiving Honorable Mention his sophomore season at Grand Canyon in 2022. Closing up UTSA’s performances at the meet, Bridgetown, Barbados junior Jemuel Miller also expanded his career accolades with a 12th-place 16.02m (52-6.75) triple jump measurement. Reaching the national championships for the second time in three years, Miller earned the American Athletic Conference silver medal this season and secured the school record in the event at the Texas Invitational in late April. His last visit to nationals, also in Eugene in 2022, produced a 10th-place finish, following up a First Team All-American sixth-place 2022 NCAA Indoor Championships finish.
One of two Roadrunner relays reaching the biggest national stage, the 4x400m quartet of freshman Martín Kouyoumdjian (Santiago, Chile), junior Noah Rhodes (Kerrville, Texas), freshman Nabil Tezkratt (East London, England) and junior Mike Roth (St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada) combined for a 3:06.74 clocking to finish 15th overall and garner Second Team All-American accolades for the group.
Opening up UTSA’s competition at nationals, the 4x100m relay of Binion, junior Brice Chabot (Smithville, Texas), Tezkratt and Kouyoumdjian clocked in at 39.64 for 17th place and All-American Honorable Mention.
Both squads become the first men’s relays to garner All-America laurels for UTSA, and the first for any Roadrunner quartet since the women’s 4x400m finished fourth in 1992.
As the only Roadrunner to reach the meet in three events, including appearances on both relays, Tezkratt also received All-American Honorable Mention as an individual in the 400m, finishing 23rd in a time of 47.16. Tezkratt was the third leg on both the 4x100m and 4x400m teams.
- UTSA -