UTSA’s track & field team journeyed up I-35 to compete in the 2025 Texas Invitational at Mike A. Myers Stadium on Thursday.
The Roadrunners neglected to carry on the momentum they built up in running events while competing at the Mt. SAC Relay. The ‘Runners fell short, placing last in the running events they did compete in; the field athletes took home wins and season-best records.
Despite a weather delay that cut practice time in two, sophomore field athlete Edlin Laur came out on top in an event she has been struggling with throughout the spring season. Laur entered the field mid-afternoon for her first event of the day: high jump. 30 minutes prior to the competition, the horizontal jumper practiced by playing around with heights, nearing her 1.80 meter goal.
“I’m happy because this season high jump has not gone as well as freshman year,” Laur said of her first-place finish. “I’m satisfied even if the result wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to get over 1.80, but I’m so happy that I’m progressively getting better.”
Due to a weather delay, Laur’s practice time was cut short. Nonetheless, she competed and took first place reaching a height of 1.78m, .02m shy of her goal.
“We did all of our warm up jumps already, and then we got sent away, and then we had to come back and do everything again, so I feel like I wasn’t as ready,” Laur said of the rain delay. “I got so cold and tired. Maybe if that wouldn’t have happened, I would’ve jumped higher. I’m still happy about it, but you never know.”
Junior Madelen Sveinungsen tied for sixth place in the same event, registering a 1.65m height.
Norwegian sophomore Ida Breigan held first place through two long jump rounds before dropping to fifth place, as freshman Mia Lien surpassed her distance by .03 meters to grab a top-three finish. American Athletic Conference’s Athlete of the Week Rachela Pace followed Breigan to claim sixth place, recording a 6.09m distance.
During the men’s 400m hurdles, freshman Zane Hodges pulled ahead, leading a pack of six toward the finish line. Following his third hurdle, Hodges took the corner quicker than his competitors did as he pushed through the next two hurdles. When he arrived at the sixth hurdle, his back foot got caught, and he fell to the ground, sacrificing his first-place spot. Rather than recording a “did not finish,” he luckily registered a “did not start” to counteract his performance.
Fellow runner and senior Ibiso-David West landed in 18th place, two spots ahead of senior Nayanna Dubarry-Gay, who recorded times of 24.73 seconds and 24.83 seconds in the women’s 200m.
UTSA will continue to compete in the Texas Invitational at 9:30 a.m Friday at Mike A. Myers Stadium.
