UTSA’s Track & field outdoor season has officially commenced with the hosting of the UTSA Invitational on Friday and Saturday at the Park West Athletics Complex.
The Roadrunners competed against athletes from Texas A&M, Incarnate Word, North Dakota State, Our Lady of the Lake, East Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas A&M-Kingsville. In total, the ‘Runners had 46 top-10 finishes, 26 top-five finishes and won five first place finishes.
Following a 45-minute warm-up session, sophomore thrower Nyaluet Diew kicked off the outdoor season on Friday with a shot put launch that she claimed first place with. On her second attempt, Diew shot her shot 15.74m in front of her, and because nobody could beat that distance, there was no need for an additional attempt.
“Track is mainly a mental sport and I have to fully trust myself and my faith,” Diew said. “I like the aggressiveness of the sport. You start off slow and at the end you have to be so explosive.”
Freshman hurdler Charlie Staddon brought home the gold with his first finish place in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.83 seconds. Staddon bowed to UTSA supporters in the stands before pulling in his teammate, freshman Zane Hodges, for a congratulatory hug to celebrate Hodges third-place finish.
“All night I was imagining, ‘I’m gonna do this! I’m gonna run and I’m gonna win it. I don’t know what I’m gonna do but I’m gonna win it’,” Staddon said of the night before his big finish. “I got about half way through the race and I thought, ‘Crap, this might be close,’ I actually used my brain, started using my arms and now I know what it feels like to win here.”
Staddon was not the only freshman to walk away with a first-place win, freshman hurdler Selma Ims won gold in the 400m hurdles with 57.79-second finish. Ims also claimed second place in the 100m hurdle race.
Senior sprinter Mike Roth — a member of Team Canada — also claimed first place, and on his birthday no less. Roth darted through the 400m dash in 47.30 seconds, .17 seconds faster than the second place winner, in his single event on Saturday.
“It felt cool but grinding with the tornado was kind of tough,” Roth said of the windy atmosphere during his birthday win. “I was telling myself, ‘Be a dog and see what happens.’ Unfortunately I don’t weigh that much so I kind of got blown away today. I’ll wait for a better day and compete better then.”
French transfer from Tarleton State University, senior hurdler Hugo Menin topped off Saturday’s win column by running the 400m hurdles race in 51.16 seconds to claim first place. Staddon trailed by 6.47 seconds to come in seventh place.
Track events that saw the Roadrunners top finishes included steeplechase, women’s 5000m run, 4x400m 4×100 relays, 200m dash, 1500m run, 400m dash, 100m dash and the 800m dash. Top marks made in field events were made in hammer throwing, shot put, long jump and high jump.
The track & field team will be splitting up this week as they head to both the Bobcat Invitational Thursday-Saturday at Texas State University Track and Field Complex in San Marcos. Other members of the team will attend the 97th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays Thursday-Saturday at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.
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