RENO, Nev. – Building on a strong Thursday opening-day performance at the Silver State Invitational and Combined Events, the UTSA track and field multi-event athletes carried the same energy into wrapping the competition on Friday at the Biggest Little City Indoor Track, with Janre Jögi taking home the gold on a pair of site records, while Finn O’Neill claimed silver while producing the Irish U23 National Record.
Making waves in his first career meet, Estonian freshman Jögi was clocked at 8.66 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles section for fourth, followed with a tie for second place in the pole vault at 4.45m (14-7.25) and was eighth in the 1,000-meter run at 2:53.90. In total, Jögi registered a combined 5,352 points, just shy of the UTSA top-5 but breaking the meet and facility records in the process.
Just 91 points back, sophomore O’Neill was second in the 60m hurdles at 8.52 seconds, tied for sixth in the pole vault at 4.15m (13-7.25) and second in the 1000m at 2:45.28 – bringing his point total to 5,261 and surpassing the 5,100-point Irish U23 National Record set by Daniel Ryan in 1999 in Sheffield, England.
With a big section-winning 2:43.82 in the 1000m down the stretch after tying O’Neill in the pole vault and a sixth-place 8.82 in the 60m hurdles, Dutch freshman Ryan Heeren came in fourth overall with a combined 5,120 points in his first collegiate competition.
Other members of the Roadrunners’ squad will kick off their indoor season on Saturday in College Station, Texas, competing in Texas A&M’s McFerrin 12-Degree Invitational at R.A. "Murray" Fasken '38 Indoor Track. After this weekend’s competitions, UTSA will resume the indoor season on January 23 at Texas A&M’s Ted Nelson Invitational.
- UTSA -