The UTSA track & field teams traveled to College Station to compete in the Charlie Thomas Invitational on Feb. 6. UTSA was met by Big 12 and SEC competition and continued to tie the school record for the men’s 60-meter hurdles and secure two bronze and one silver medal.

Bashiru Abdullahi tied his own school record of 7.80 seconds in the men’s 60-meter hurdles, earning UTSA a bronze medal. Abdullahi’s finish secured him a personal best finish for the race, recording him 0.2 seconds behind Louisiana State University’s (LSU) Eric Edwards Jr. Caleb Devereaux recorded a season best 1:57.64 in his 800-meter race, earning him ninth place, finishing 1.33 seconds behind University of Oklahoma’s (OU) Graham Santilli. 

The men’s field events brought a bronze medal from Grant Szalek in the high jump. Szalek jumped a 2.09m attempt, closely finishing behind Texas A&M’s Carter Bajoit. Back-to-back finishes in the long jump secured UTSA fifth and sixth place, with Sam Healy jumping a 6.80m and Justin Wright with a 6.12m jump. Jorge Ayala rounded out the men’s field performances with a sixth-place finish in the shot put, throwing a 15.66m hurl. Ayala and Angel Robles concluded the meet with a tenth and eleventh place finish in the weight throw, throwing 14.26m and 12.96m, respectively.

For the women’s team, Abby Balli began the meet with a fourth-place finish in the 3000m with a time of 10:04.41, three seconds behind the bronze finish of LSU’s Ashley Lajocies. Balli crossed the finish line seventh in the mile race with a time of 5:09.48. Chante Dixon crossed behind her with a time of 5:12.61 for an eighth-place finish. Alanah Yukich recorded a 55.62 race in the 400m, landing her seventh on the finish list. Brooke Lomax and Sofia Salinas had back-to-back finishes in the 800m with 2:22.12 and 2:23.06, landing in eighth and ninth place, respectively. 

The women’s field events claimed the only UTSA silver medal of the meet in the long jump. Ingeborg Gruenwald missed the gold by 0.04m behind OU’s Essence Thomas, jumping a 6.13m for silver. Lacee Barnes followed in the next event, securing a fifth-place finish in the shot put with a throw of 13.88m. 

The ‘Runners will be traveling to Birmingham, Ala., to compete in the Conference USA Indoor Championship Feb. 20-21, to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships held in March in Fayetteville, Ark.