When UTSA officially joined the American Conference just before fall 2023, many Roadrunner fans wondered how long it would take for the university’s teams in 17 different sports to acclimate to a new level of competition.
Several UTSA squads had promising performances and top-tier finishes in late 2023 and 2024, proving that UTSA Athletics could compete in the American. But none could quite emerge as conference champions.
In 2025, UTSA didn’t simply break through that glass ceiling. The Roadrunners shattered the darn thing.
In the spring, the women’s basketball team rode its greatest regular season in program history to an unforgettable championship celebration in front of a record-setting crowd at the Convocation Center.
In the summer, the baseball team thumped its competition in the American Conference and proved to college baseball fans everywhere that the Roadrunners were among the nation’s best.
In the fall, a UTSA soccer team that had hung with the likes of TCU and Houston during the regular season finally recorded its signature triumph — one of the most improbable and memorable upsets of the college sports season — on its path to a conference tournament title.
Here are the memorable moments that will forever define the first three Roadrunner teams to bring American Conference championship trophies back to the Alamo City.
Women’s Basketball: A coronation at the Convo
After a fourth-place American Conference finish in 2024 and the return of star player Jordyn Jenkins from injury that spring, hope began growing that the UTSA women’s basketball team could complete for a league championship in 2025.
When head coach Karen Aston added graduate transfer Nina De Leon Negron to the roster, and young players like Idara Udo and Cheyenne Rowe emerged as consistent contributors, the Roadrunners surpassed “contender” status and firmly established themselves as the favorites in the American.
The team did not disappoint the prognosticators.
Following a very close loss at Texas A&M in the 2024-2025 season opener, UTSA won 17 of its next 18 games. Eleven of those wins were commanding victories by double digits. By late January 2025, the squad had seized first place in the American Conference.
With three teams nipping at their heels in the standings, the Roadrunners knew they would have to keep the wins coming while taking every opponent’s best effort. They responded by posting a perfect 7-0 record in February, including thrilling home wins over Temple, North Texas and South Florida that put some distance in the standings between themselves and their biggest competition in the conference.
By the time March 1 rolled around, UTSA had amassed a 24-3 overall record and a 15-1 record in conference play. The Roadrunners needed just one more victory to capture the regular-season championship in the American and break the program record for wins in a single season.
Thus, the stage was set for a Senior Day showdown at the Convocation Center against Florida Atlantic.
An announced crowd of 2,250 basketball fans packed the arena for the big game, breaking the program’s single-game attendance record. Jenkins and De Leon Negron, the team’s lone seniors, cherished the hugs from loved ones and the roaring admiration of the Roadrunner faithful.
Powered by the electric atmosphere, UTSA overwhelmed the Owls on defense. The Roadrunners took a big lead early in the game and never looked back, cruising to a 60-42 win. Within minutes of the final whistle, the confetti cannons were blasting, the trophy was hoisted and the players, coaches and staff were donning their conference championship hats and t-shirts.
“We’ve always wanted the confetti and we’ve always wanted to win in front of a big crowd at the Convo, so it was really cool and really rewarding,” Jenkins told Sombrilla Magazine earlier this year. “We were the most popular people in the building. Our friends were there. Our families were there. So many pictures. So many autographs. It was just everything that we’ve always wanted.”
The women’s basketball team finished with a 26-5 record and added a few more trophies to the case by season’s end.
Jenkins was named the American Conference Player of the Year. De Leon Negron was named the conference’s Newcomer of the Year, and Aston was unanimously named the American’s Coach of the Year — further cementing UTSA’s status as one of the best women’s basketball programs in the league.
Baseball: One wild weekend in Austin
The UTSA baseball team racked up 30-plus wins in 2023 and 2024, but two goals eluded the Roadrunners by the end of both campaigns.
They finished in second place in Conference USA in 2023 and were runners-up again in the American in 2024. Because UTSA couldn’t quite seize a conference championship and the automatic bid in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament that came with it, the Roadrunners were left out of the tournament both years.
In 2025, the Roadrunners responded by playing with a chip on their shoulders and adopted what famously came to be known as the “junkyard dog” mentality — the mindset of a team that felt undervalued and was ready to make its presence known.
Boy, did they ever.
Under Coach Pat Hallmark, UTSA racked up an 11-3 record before scoring what many considered to be its first signature victory of 2025: a 7-4 win over No. 14 Texas A&M in College Station on March 4.
Two weeks later, the Roadrunners stunned college baseball fans again with a captivating 8-7 victory over No. 8 Texas in an extra-innings contest in Austin.
It was at this point that the Roadrunners knew they could compete with any college baseball team in the nation. That confidence would lift them as they entered play in the American Conference after Spring Break.
UTSA didn’t simply win the conference. The Roadrunners flat-out dominated the American. UTSA played nine three-game series against its conference competitors and won every single one of them, amassing a 23-4 conference record by season’s end. Of those 23 conference wins, 11 of them were by a deficit of 7 runs or more.
After sweeping South Florida in the first weekend of May, the Roadrunners had built a massive lead in the standings — a lead large enough to capture the American Conference regular-season championship with two full weeks left on the schedule.
The American Conference honors came rolling in by season’s end. Hallmark was named the American’s Coach of the Year after the team finished the regular season with the third-highest winning percentage (79.2%) in all of Division I baseball.
Senior outfielder Mason Lytle was named the American’s Player of the Year after leading the conference in runs scored (67), hits (86) and doubles (20).
Lytle was named to the All-American Conference First Team alongside sophomore pitcher Robert Orloski, senior catcher Andrew Stucky, junior shortstop Ty Hodge and senior outfielder James Taussig. Freshman second baseman Jordan Ballin and junior outfielder Drew Detlefsen were named to the All-American Conference Second Team.
Despite these plaudits, few expected UTSA to emerge from the NCAA Tournament’s Austin Regional in June. To do so, the Roadrunners would have to take down a high-scoring Kansas State team and topple the Texas Longhorns two more times on their home field.
By this point in the baseball season, Texas was ranked No. 2 in the nation and had captured the championship in the highly competitive Southeastern Conference.
UTSA’s opener against Kansas State was close until the sixth inning when Taussig blasted a towering home run to right field that gave the Roadrunners a 6-1 lead. UTSA would follow up with four more runs in the seventh inning on their way to a 10-2 victory that set up a big matchup with Texas the following evening.
With a sold-out UFCU Disch-Falk Field firmly behind them, the Longhorns pounced on UTSA and were reveling in a 6-1 lead by the third inning. The Roadrunners could have folded, but the undeterred squad chipped away at the deficit through persistently stellar hitting and clever base-running. UTSA scored four runs in the fifth inning and three more in the sixth inning before relying on excellent performances from the Roadrunner relief pitchers to secure a stunning 9-7 victory over the hosts.
Hundreds of Roadrunner fans made the trip from San Antonio for the Austin Regional Final the following night, and the UTSA baseball team gave them plenty to cheer about right away. Senior infielder Norris McClure blasted a two-run home run that flew well over the right field wall and on to Comal Street in the first inning. The Roadrunners piled on five more runs in the third inning, and it wasn’t long before the Longhorn faithful were heading for the exits in droves.
Texas added a few late runs, but the outcome never really seemed in doubt. UTSA won 7-4 to clinch its very first NCAA regional title as the Roadrunner fans crowded the stands near third base for high-fives, hugs and selfies with the greatest UTSA baseball team ever.
Earning a regional title and reaching the Super Regional round — college baseball’s version of the Sweet 16 — was a momentous achievement for UTSA Baseball, which had not reached the postseason since 2013 and had never previously won a regional game. Finishing with a 47-15 record and earning the No. 13 spot in D1 Baseball’s final Top 25 ranking of the season, UTSA’s remarkable run captured the intrigue of baseball fans across the nation and filled Roadrunners everywhere with pride.
Most importantly, it established UTSA as a baseball program on an upward trajectory.
“What we’re doing this year does not have to be an anomaly,” Hallmark said in June. “I’m not ready to say we can do it every single year, but we can do this more than not.”
Soccer: A comeback for the ages
If anyone knew what it would take to win a conference tournament championship, it was Coach Derek Pittman.
Pittman had overseen the UTSA soccer team during its historic 2022 season, when the Roadrunners went on a sensational run to capture the Conference USA tournament title.
There was a growing confidence at the Park West Athletics Complex that the Roadrunners could put together another magical conference tournament run in 2025. Despite a 10-6-6 regular season record, UTSA had earned a reputation as a relentless team that never appeared to be overmatched. Those kinds of college soccer teams are often dangerous when November rolls around.
However, one prickly fact was poised to poke a deflating hole in the Roadrunners’ ballooning spirit: Memphis would inevitably stand in UTSA’s path to a 2025 conference title. The Tigers had gone undefeated in the regular season, were ranked No. 3 in the nation and were the only team to beat the Roadrunners by two goals on their own turf.
When the Roadrunners defeated the UAB Blazers 2-1 in the first round of the American Conference Women’s Soccer Championships in Lakewood Ranch, Fla., they knew that mighty Memphis awaited them in the semifinals.
What few anticipated is that the semifinal match would be a wildly entertaining instant classic.
Senior midfielder Zoë May, who transferred to UTSA from Memphis, scored the first goal of the game late in the first half, but Memphis responded with an equalizer just a few minutes later. It was a tense 1-1 tie at halftime.
The goalkeepers and back lines for both teams held their ground until the game’s 80th minute, when a chaotic flurry of offense suddenly prevailed. Memphis’ Ally Casey and Elise Perron scored stunning back-to-back goals for the Tigers in the span of a few minutes to put UTSA into a 3-1 hole with just five minutes left in regulation.
How dire were the circumstances for the Roadrunners at this point? Their win probability literally dipped to a fraction of a percent after the Tigers’ third goal. The UTSA soccer team knew it would have to play wisely and perfectly to claw back into the game.
It didn’t take long.
Just 46 seconds later, sophomore defender Aaliyaiah Durden sent a brilliant pass from midfield to freshman forward Brooklyn Bailey, who crossed up a pair of Memphis defenders, nimbly maneuvered around the goalkeeper and kicked the ball into a wide-open goal to cut the deficit to 3-2.
About 90 seconds after that, the tenacious Roadrunners earned a free kick near the Memphis goal. Junior forward Michelle Polo struck a beautiful ball that arched toward the goal, and after it briefly ricocheted off a teammate, Durden headed the ball into the left side of the net to tie the game.
The Roadrunners roared in delirious excitement as the Memphis players froze in shellshock. Few college soccer teams have ever erased a 3-1 lead in the final five minutes of a game. Even fewer have done so with about two-and-a-half minutes to spare.
After two scoreless overtime periods, the game ended in a 3-3 draw, meaning that the winner of a penalty kick shootout would advance. That’s when the rain really started coming down. And that’s when UTSA goalkeeper Jasmine Kessler shined brighter than the sun.
Kessler not only knocked in UTSA’s first goal in the shootout, but magnificently denied a shot from Memphis’ Casey to send the Roadrunners to the championship game.
“What an unbelievable show of heart and belief from this group,” Pittman said after the game. “Being down 3-1 with five minutes to play against one of the best teams in the country, they never quit. They trusted each other, stayed composed and found a way to fight back. To equalize late, push through overtime, and then win it in penalties says everything about the character and resilience of this team.”
Coming down from that emotional high, the Roadrunners could be forgiven for a sluggish start the next afternoon in the conference championship game against Rice University. UTSA had numerous quality opportunities to score, but Rice goalkeeper Kirsten Ruf seemed to turn all of them away, registering nine saves in the game.
With regulation ending in a 0-0 draw, the Roadrunners and Owls went to overtime. In the closing moments of the extra period, freshman infielder Bri Carrigan got the ball from Bryn Maxwell with an open lane down the middle of the field, elusively sprinting past one defender and firing a shot that sailed over Ruf into the top left corner of the net.
It was the first goal Carrigan had scored as a college athlete — and it just happened to be the one that delivered UTSA Soccer its first American Conference title.
The entire team rushed out for a celebratory dogpile on Carrigan near the Rice goal, and was raising the conference championship trophy in elation moments later.
The team earned a few more honors afterward. Kessler was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player. After hitting the championship game-winner, Carrigan was named the Most Outstanding Offensive Player. Additionally, Bailey, May and Durden joined Kessler and Carrigan on the All-Tournament Team.
With so many promising young players delivering in the biggest moments, the best may very well be yet to come for UTSA Soccer.
