SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA track & field teams kicked off the outdoor season on Friday at the Park West Athletics Complex, delivering five medals across the opening 10 events of the UTSA Invitational.
The first medal of the outdoor season went to the debut of senior Coastal Carolina transfer Lauralyn Clifford, notching bronze in the women’s hammer throw on a career-best 58.11m (190-8.00) toss. The mark takes over as the No. 2 all-time performance in UTSA history and would have secured second in last year’s American Conference standings. Clifford also topped her own St. Lucia National Record with the season-opening mark. Junior Nyaluet Diew also notched her own career best of 48.66m (159-8.00) for seventh place in the event.
Over in the jump pits, junior Edlin Laur fired off a career-best 6.27m (20-6.75) measurement on her fifth attempt, earning the silver medal in her first outdoor performance for the event. Sophomore Brina Likar went 6.10m (20-0.25) on her first attempt and that was long enough for the bronze, just ahead of sophomore transfer Nyariek Kur, who was fourth with a 5.89m (19-4.00) measurement.
In the opposite pit, freshman Cyrill Kernbach made his first appearance in nearly two years count, battling to the final attempts before closing on a career-best 7.58m (24-10.50) leap to pick up third place in his first UTSA meet.
The biggest finish of the day came in the final moments, as freshman Austin Lyda broke out to a clear lead in the 5,000m and led virtually the entire race to a season-opening victory on a 15:32.85 in his first collegiate 5,000m. In the women’s race, sophomore Emma Wallace was sixth in a time of 21:09.06.
Back at throws, sophomore Waylon McKenzie added 2.2m to his career best and finished eighth with a 51.60m (169-3.00) heave in the hammer throw. Meanwhile, freshman Trevor Kirby was 10th in the men’s shot put at 14.26m (46-9.50). Diew earned sixth in the women’s shot at 15.35m (50-4.25), just ahead of Kansas State grad transfer Daisy Monie with a seventh-place 15.09m (49-6.00) in her first UTSA meet.
With javelin opening that meet, freshman Janre Jõgi finished seventh in the men’s competition at 53.90m (176-10.00), while Laur hit 39.69m (130-3.00) for seventh as well.
Action resumes at Park West resumes on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. with pole vault, high jump, triple jump and discus. Running events on Saturday begin at 2 p.m. on a rolling schedule, kicking off with the 4x100-meter relays, followed by 100-meter/110-meter hurdles, 400-meter, 100-meter, 800-meter, 400-meter hurdles, 200-meter, 1,500-meter and concluding on the 4x400-meter relays.
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