SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s and women’s track & field teams are headed to Birmingham, Ala., to compete this weekend in the program’s first appearance at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships. The league’s championship meet is slated to run from Friday, Feb. 23 through Saturday, Feb. 24 at the Birmingham CrossPlex.
The Roadrunners are coming off a week without competition following a triple-event weekend all across the country two weeks ago, as UTSA set two international records and five school records, quickly rising the rankings among individual conference performers.
This weekend’s conference event will stack the Roadrunners up against the 11 men’s teams and 14 women’s teams in the American Athletic Conference, representing Charlotte, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, North Texas, Rice, SMU, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB and Wichita State. Of the opposing squads, five are familiar foes – joining UTSA in the move from Conference USA for this year’s inaugural season as members in The American.
The American Indoor Track & Field Championships return to the Birmingham CrossPlex for the eighth straight championship, held each season at the venue since 2016. Home to numerous indoor track events across several conferences and at the championship level, the world-class facility boasts a six-lane, 200-meter oval hydraulic track with eight 60-meter lanes for sprint/hurdle events. The hydraulic track features a Mondotrack surface and is one of only six in the United States and one of eight worldwide. There are dual horizontal runways for pole vault, long jump and triple jump. Additionally, dual high jump approaches can be configured along with dual throwing sectors for shot-put located outside the oval.
Competition will kick off on Friday, Feb. 23, with the the women’s pentathlon at 9 a.m., followed closely by the first four events of the men’s heptathlon at 11 a.m. UTSA’s competition in the field events is slated to begin at 12 p.m. with the women’s long jump at 2 p.m., followed by the men’s weight throw, men’s long jump and women’s weight throw. UTSA’s Friday preliminary trials running events open up at 1:05 p.m. with the women’s mile, followed by the men’s mile, women’s and men’s 400-meter, women’s and men’s 60-meter hurdles, women’s and men’s 60-meter, women’s and men’s 800-meter, women’s 5,000-meter finals and the distance medley relays.
The final day of championship competition for UTSA begins on Saturday with the remaining heptathlon events at 9:45 a.m. UTSA field events will begin at 10:30 a.m. on the women’s high jump, followed by men’s shot put, women’s triple jump, women’s shot put and men’s triple jump. The finals on the track begin at 12:05 p.m. with the mile, then on to the 400-meter, 60-meter hurdles, 60-meter, 800-meter, 200-meter, women’s and men’s 3,000-meter run – then closing up the meet on the 4 x 400-meter relays ahead of the 3:50 p.m. awards ceremony.
The latest NCAA DI indoor performance list features several of UTSA’s student-athletes among the nation’s best entering this week’s indoor track & field conference championships. On the men’s side, junior Dennis Phillips ran a season-best 6.65 in the 60-meter, which ranks 40th in the NCAA and Phillips enters the week with the second-best time in The American. In the 200-meter dash, junior Brice Chabot is also second in the AAC and 44th with an adjusted time of 20.94, while Phillips is fourth at 21.13 and junior Michael Roth is sixth at 21.31. Roth also enters the championships with the NCAA’s 30th-best time in the 400-meter dash on a league-leading 46.45 seconds. Junior Gabriel Binion leads the AAC and is 21st in the nation in the long jump at 7.77m (25-6) and 18th in the nation in triple jump at 15.89m (52-1.75), ranking second in the conference ahead of classmate Dylan James, who is third in the AAC and 33rd in the country with a triple jump mark of 15.64m (51-3.75). James also ranks second in the conference in the long jump with a 7.54m (24-9) mark. Junior Michael Campbell also enters the weekend ranked third in the weight throw at 20.29m (66-7).
For the women, freshman Ida Breigan enters the championships at sixth in the country on a Norwegian Indoor and AAC-record long jump of 6.52m (21-4.75), while classmate Mia Lien sits at fifth in the league on a 6.21m (20-4.5) leap. Senior Isabella Simonelli is third in the weight throw at 19.16m (62-10.5). Junior Thennelle Williams sits at fourth in the 60-meter (7.42), ahead of sixth-ranked teammate Kiah Dubarry-Gay (7.49). Rookie Edlin Laur enters the weekend at sixth in the high jump at 1.73m (5-8).
Attending or Following Action at the Meet
The Championship is free to attend, and no tickets are required at the CrossPlex.
The 2024 American championships are scheduled for Feb. 23-24 on ESPN+ with Hayden Cox and Trevor Fulkerson on the call and Breanna Sorensen as the reporter.
Watch live on ESPN+: Friday Events | Saturday Events
The American will host live results from both days through XPress Timing.
Up Next
At the completion of the AAC Championships, NCAA qualifiers will move on to the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships, scheduled for March 8-9 at The Track at New Balance, in Boston, Mass. The Outdoor season is right around the corner, with competition opening for the Roadrunners at home within the Park West Athletics Complex, with UTSA hosting the UTSA Invitational from March 15 to March 16.
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