CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The biggest performance of the opening day of competition at the American Athletic Conference Outdoor Track & Field Championships belonged to senior Garrett Stokes with a new school record and the first UTSA medal of the meet. In addition, hurdlers Selma Ims and Hugo Menin advanced to their respective finals on the first day of action, Thursday at the Irwin Belk Track & Field Center.
A graduate student from El Paso, Stokes went 62.88m (206-3) on his second toss of the hammer throw final, right after rising to second place on his fourth measurement of 61.81m (202-9). The second finals attempt locked up the silver medal for good and also surpassed Victor Perez’ 2017 mark from the UTSA Invitational by a centimeter, setting a new program best. Also competing for the Roadrunners in the event, Aiden Mercado (45.77m) was 17th, Waylon McKenzie (45.11m) was 18th and Ryan Stillman (35.63m) was 20th.
The Sandnes, Norway rookie, Ims blew away the 400m hurdles preliminary field to move on to Saturday’s event final, rolling a full 1.67 seconds ahead of the next-fastest time at 57.44 – just .04 seconds shy of her career best. Kyla Hill was 10th in the field with a time of 1:00.24. Right behind her performance, Cysoing, France senior Menin turned in the second-fastest performance of the men’s 400m hurdles preliminary on a 51.16 clocking, with the top three times appearing in his heat – also headed to Saturday’s final. Zane Hodges registered a new PR of 52.78 to finish 10th in the 400m hurdles preliminary, while Charlie Staddon was 19th at 56.34.
Sophomore Ida Breigan ran a 23.81 in the women’s 200m prelim to finish 11th, while Kiah Dubarry-Gay (24.13) was 15th, Thennelle Williams (24.31) was 21st, Ibiso David-West (24.52) was 28th and Leah Smith (24.71) was 30th.
The lone distance runner in competition on Thursday, Jadelyn Malesich went 5:08.27 for 22nd in the 1,500m on the initial running event of the afternoon.
The multi-events will resume on Friday, May 16, with the heptathlon contesting the long jump at 10 a.m. CDT, ahead of the javelin and 800m. The decathlon reconvenes at 9 a.m. with the 110m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500m. Field events start on the long jump at 2 p.m. CDT, with the shot put also on the schedule. Friday running preliminaries begin at 5:30 p.m. CDT on the 100m/110m hurdles, followed by the 800m, 400m, 100m and the 3,000m steeplechase final at 6:30 p.m. CDT.
- UTSA -