SAN ANTONIO — Four members of the UTSA track & field teams will travel to Eugene, Oregon, to compete in the NCAA Outdoor Championships, which are set for Wednesday-Saturday, June 8-11, at Hayward Field.
The Roadrunners will be represented by Bashiru Abdullahi in the 110-meter hurdles, Christiaan Le Roux in the long jump and Jemuel Miller in the triple jump on the men's side, while Danielle Spence earned a spot in the women's triple jump.
Abdullahi will get things started for UTSA in the semifinal round of the 110m hurdles at 7:32 p.m. Central time on Wednesday, while Le Roux is slated for the long jump at 8 p.m. CT on the opening day.
Following a day without any scheduled events, the Roadrunners will return to action on Friday night with Miller in the triple jump at 8:20 p.m. CT, while the 110m hurdles final is pegged for 8:42 p.m.
Spence is the lone Roadrunner on the Saturday docket, as she will participate in the triple jump at 4:50 p.m. CT.
Abdullahi secured his spot in the national semifinals after he finished second in his quarterfinal round heat and third overall at the NCAA West Preliminary on May 27 in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The junior from Nigeria clocked a time of 13.52 seconds to better his own school record of 13.53 set earlier in May in winning the Conference USA crown. He is scheduled to race in the third heat on Wednesday and boasts the seventh-fastest time in the field.
The three-time Conference USA champion is looking to join Patrick Prince, an honorable mention All-American with a 20th-place finish in 2018, as the only Roadrunners to earn All-America accolades in the 110m hurdles. Prior to transferring to UTSA from Cal State Northridge, he earned honorable mention All-America accolades with a 17th-place finish in the 110m hurdles at the 2019 NCAA Outdoor.
Le Roux booked his trip to the West Coast by a mere one centimeter at the West Preliminary on May 25. The sophomore from South Africa leaped to a mark of 7.69 meters (25-2.75) on both his second and third trips down the runway, slightly further than the 7.68m (25-2.5) turned in by both Texas Tech's Jalen Seals and Oklahoma's Rayvon Allen, and ended up in 12th place for the final qualifying spot. He enters the meet with the 19th-best measurement in the field of 24 and is slated to jump second in flight two on Wednesday.
Le Roux was the silver medalist in the long jump with a wind-aided mark of 7.77m (25-6) at the C-USA Outdoor last month and he also grabbed a bronze medal in the event at the league's indoor meet this year. Adrian Riley (2017) and Tyler Williamson (2012) are the only previous UTSA athletes to collect All-America honors in the long jump
Miller secured his spot in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in dramatic fashion at the West Preliminary on May 27. After not recording a mark on his first two attempts, the true freshman from Barbados skipped to an outdoor season-best measurement of 16.06m (52-8.25) to move all the way into ninth place and continue his quest for the indoor/outdoor sweep of All-America accolades. His top outdoor mark puts him 12th in the field, and he is scheduled to jump second to last in the second flight on Friday.
Miller, who placed sixth at the NCAA Indoor in March with a school-record mark of 16.17m (53-0.75), swept this year's C-USA Indoor and Outdoor crowns. He is seeking to join Devon Bond, who finished fifth with his school-standard mark of 16.20m (53-1.75) in 2010 and 16th a year later, as the only Roadrunners to achieve All-America status in the outdoor triple jump.
UTSA boasts 16 All-Americans outdoors who have combined to earn 27 first team, second team or honorable mention certificates on the men's side. The Roadrunners have scored points for a team finish 10 times at the NCAA Outdoor with the top showing of a tie for 38th behind a program-best eight points at the 2014 meet, also in Eugene.
Spence earned a spot in the NCAA Championships for the second time in her illustrious career and first time outdoors with a ninth-place finish at the West Preliminary on May 28. The nine-time conference medalist from Jamaica posted a wind-aided mark of 13.41 meters (44-0) on her third and final attempt to book her trip to Eugene. The school record holder at 13.37m (43-10.5) indoors and 13.42m (44-0.5) outdoors owns the 12th-best mark in the field and is slated to jump first in the second flight on Saturday afternoon.
In 2019, Spence collected second-team All-America honors after finishing 13th in the triple jump with a 12.80m (42-0) measurement at the NCAA Indoor in Birmingham, Alabama.
Starlite Williams is the only Roadrunner to earn All-America accolades in the women's outdoor triple jump, placing eighth with a mark of 12.64m (41-5.75) in 1985, which made her the first All-American in program history.
A dozen Roadrunners have combined to collect 16 All-America certificates on the women's side. UTSA has tallied points at seven NCAA Outdoor meets, finishing a program-best 21st with 11 points — also a school record — at the 1989 meet in Provo, Utah.
-UTSA-
