BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The UTSA men’s and women’s track and field teams opened competition on Friday at the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championships, returning to the championship site at the Birmingham Crossplex for the second straight season as members of the league. It was a productive initial performance, as the women earned 37 points to sit in second, while the men had 25 for sixth. The Roadrunners collected three conference titles and medals for Mia Lien, Ida Breigan, Orelewa Adamson, Garrett Stokes and Christiaan Le Roux – not to mention a pair of school records and a meet record.
The first lead competitor of the day, Lien (freshman/Jakobsli, Norway) used her second event of the pentathlon to make her mark, breaking her own UTSA high jump record and the AAC meet record with a 1.83m (6-0) height, vaulting her up the multi-event scoreboard. Lien also earned to section win in the long jump at 6.11m (20-0.5) and was second in the 800m at 2:18.13. Accumulating a meet-winning 4,194 points, she edged out Ryanne Dupree’s 2006 NCAA Championships total by one point to become the new standard-bearer.
The next event making a big dent in the scoreboard was UTSA’s most elite, the women’s long jump, in which the Roadrunners pocketed 27 points. Leading the charge, Breigan (sophomore/Fredrikstad, Norway) repeated as AAC Indoor Champion with a season-best 6.53m (21-5.25) leap and to register the new NCAA No.12 performance of the year. Collecting the bronze medal, Adamson (senior/London, England) returned from an injury that sidelined her in 2024, returning closer to her 2023 All-American performances with a 6.13m (20-1.5) measurement. The Roadrunners also racked points on Fresno State-transfer Rachela Pace’s (senior/Dingli, Malta) season-best 6.07m (19-11) for fourth place and freshman Brina Likar’s (Golnik, Slovenia) fifth-place 6.06m (19-10.75) measurement.
Closing out the day, UTSA also saw outstanding production from the men’s long jumpers, as senior Le Roux (Rhodesport, South Africa) earned gold on a 7.58m (24-10.5) leap, collecting his fourth event win of the season and third career conference title in the event. Joining him in increasing the UTSA point total, Dylan James (senior/Perth, Australia) registered a fifth-place 7.31m (23-11.75) mark, while Gabriel Binion (senior/Sydney, Australia) came in seventh at 7.03m (23-0.75).
The lone throwing medal of the day was delivered by grad student UIW-transfer Stokes (El Paso, Texas), who earned bronze in the men’s weight throw with a career-long 19.43m (63-9) toss. Senior Michael Campbell (Bloomfield, Conn.) also notched a seventh-place measurement of 18.44m (60-6). In the women’s weight throw, Arkansas State transfer Nyaluet Diew (sophomore/South Sioux City, Neb.) was 10th at 16.28m (53-5).
The Roadrunners moved several performers from preliminaries ahead to Saturday’s event finals. Conference leader Shadae Findley (redshirt senior/ Evergreen, Jamaica) was clocked at 54.11 in the women’s 400m for the second-best prelim time. On the men’s side, Mike Roth (senior/St. Thomas, Ontario) was third in the trials with a 47.45 clocking in the 400m. Doubling up the distance, Victor Charo (junior/Abilene, Texas) registered the eighth-best 800m time at 1:52.26 to move ahead to the final. Just missing the qualification, freshman Charlie Staddon (Bath, England) was .002 seconds from making the 60m hurdles final at 8.10 (8.094), while freshman two-sport athlete Will Henderson III (Gilmer, Texas) was 10th in his first 60m championships preliminary at 6.80 seconds.
After the first four events of the men's heptathlon, Harry Jääger (freshman/Saku, Estonia) is in 10th with 2,561 points and Finn O'Neill (freshman/Parish of Faughanvale, Northern Ireland) is 12th at 2,504.
The men’s heptathlon will open the final day of AAC Indoors competition at the Birmingham Crossplex, resuming the final three events at 9:15 a.m., while the women’s individual high jump will begin at 10:15 a.m. The meet will close on the 4x400m relays in mid-afternoon, with the awards ceremony scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
- UTSA -