Riley ends UTSA career with second All-American honor

UTSA senior Adrian Riley gave it everything he had.

After running the 1,500 meters to complete his 10th and final event in two days Thursday, he collapsed on the track at Hayward Field.

Riley finished the four-lap finale in 4 minutes and 52.51 seconds for 604 points.

All told, he finished 12th in the decathlon at the NCAA Track and Field Championship with 7,520 points.

When the decathlon opened Wednesday, 24 athletes held out hopes of competing for a title. By the time it was over, only 16 had finished all 10 events.

Kentucky senior Tim Duckworth outlasted everyone, claiming the championship with a score of 8,336.

Duckworth fell a little more than 100 points shy of the meet record held by former Oregon star Ashton Eaton.

It was a solid showing all the way around for Riley, who finished in the top 10 in four events, including third in the long jump with a UTSA school record of 25 feet, 11 and 1/2 inch.

Riley was also fifth in the 100 meters (in 10.82 seconds), seventh in the discus (140 feet, 1 inch) and 10th in the javelin (176-6).

By virtue of his 12th-place overall finish, he earned second-team All-American honors, becoming the first track athlete in school history to get the award in two events.

He was an honorable mention All-American in the long jump last year.

“It feels great, like a job well-done,” said Riley, a native of Jamaica. “Especially (after) coming in and not being a high (rated) recruit.”

Riley also became the first at UTSA to earn multiple All-America honors since hurdler Keyunta Hayes did it in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

He was the first UTSA athlete to compete in the decathlon at the national meet since Justin Youngblood placed seventh in 2004.

“I’ve had five decathletes make it to the national meet since I’ve been at UTSA,” coach Aaron Fox said. “Adrian came in primarily as a sprinter-jumper.

“He had only jumped around 23 feet coming in, so he had a huge improvement in his long jump.”

In the coming year, Riley will continue to take classes at UTSA in pursuit of a finance degree.

He will also work on his long jump in an attempt to make the Jamaican national team for the 2019 world championships.

“He’s just a very talented athlete and can do a lot of things,” Fox said. It was a lot of fun to have him. He was a great team leader.”

Horton leads Baylor relay

Anchor Kiana Horton passed two runners in the final 200 meters to lead the Baylor women’s 4×400 relay to a second-place finish in its heat and into the finals.

Earlier in the day, Arkansas sophomore Devin Clark moved on to the finals in the women’s 3000 steeplechase.

Horton ran track at Judson. Clark was a distance running star at Smithson Valley.