The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Men's Track and Field in second place after day two of Big 12 Conference Championships
05.12.2007 | XC: Men_Old, Track & Field / Cross Country
LINCOLN, Neb. -- The fifth-ranked Texas men's track and field team advanced five qualifiers to Sunday's finals of the 2007 Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Ed Weir Stadium on Saturday, May 12.
The Longhorns are in second place on the team scoreboard, tallying 28 points through the first two days (five scored events). Kansas is in first with 37 points, followed by UT, Nebraska (27), Missouri (25), and Oklahoma (18).
All-American sprinter Jamaal Charles (Port Arthur, Texas) met the NCAA regional standard in the 100 and 200, advanced to the finals of the 100 to defend his conference title, and ran the region's fifth-fastest time this year (according to the NCAA descending order list prior to the start of the meet).
He led the field of 100-meter advancers, running a season-best 10.34 in the preliminary race. It is the fastest legal time that the defending Big 12 champion has run since running 10.27 in placing fifth at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Sacramento in June. At the Texas Twilight, Charles ran 10.31 behind an illegal 5.4 wind reading.
In the 200, Charles came back to run 20.83 seconds in finishing 10th in the preliminary round. The race was one of the fastest of the day as 15 of 24 runners met the NCAA regional qualifying mark of 21.19.
Juniors Leo Manzano (Marble Falls, Texas) and Erik Stanley (Spring, Texas) advanced to the 1,500-meter final on Saturday. Stanley posted the second-fastest time in the group of 30 runners (3 minutes, 46. 83 seconds) while Manzano finished second in his heat in 3:47.77. Senior cross country All-American Joe Thorne (Chamblee, Ga.) narrowly missed the finals, finishing just six-hundredths of a second outside of eighth-place (3:48.33).
Junior hurdler Hamza Deyaf (Richardson, Texas) had the second fastest time in the 400-meter hurdles. He led heat one with a preliminary race time of 51.20.
Freshman Shawn Schmidt (Plano, Texas) earned All-Big 12 honors with a fifth-place, personal best finish in the decathlon. Over five events, he tallied an NCAA provisional qualifying 7,221 points, and recorded two top-four finishes on the second day. He easily met the provisional standard of 6,900 points and finished 279 points shy of the automatic mark of 7,500 points.
His top two finishes came in the 1,500-meter run and discus. In the 1,500, he ran his second fastest time of the season of 4:35.67. He placed fourth in the discus after tossing 134-1 (40.86m) for 682 points.
In the pole vault, Schmidt cleared a lifetime best height of 14-3.25 (4.35m) in the pole vault. He scored 716 points and moved into fourth place after eight events.
Schmidt threw 156-7 (47.74m) for 555 points in the javelin and ran a season-best 15.49 seconds in the 110-meter hurdles.
"I felt like I was in a good place coming in here to make an impact for the team because I haven't really performed well in the past big meets this year," said Schmidt. "Coming in sort of as the underdog, I just wanted to prove that I deserved to be here and prove that I deserve the score at this level."
Redshirt freshman Andrew Webb (Midland, Texas) finished in seventh place overall, accumulating 7,079 points in just his second collegiate decathlon. Webb's mark met the provisional standard but he already has the 12th-best point total in the country.
Webb jumped from 11th to fourth in the individual standings, after winning the heptathlon 110-meter hurdles. He scorched the track in a personal-best 14.64 seconds, shattering his prior best of 14.80 seconds from the heptathlon short hurdles at the 2007 Texas Relays.
Webb also vaulted 13-3.5 (4.05m) for 631 points and threw 156-10 (47.81m) in the javelin for 556 points. In the discus, his implement landed in the grass at 129-2 (39.38m) for seventh place and 652 points.
In the 800-meter final for the Longhorns is junior Jacob Hernandez (Magnolia, Texas), who rounded the track in 1:50.68.
Junior John Rouse (Kaufman, Texas) threw 192-4 (58.2m) to finish sixth and score three points towards the team score. He earned All-Big 12 honors, scoring at the conference meet for the first time in his career.
Sophomore hurdlers Elliot O'Hare (Austin, Texas) and Trevor Gerland (Katy, Texas) met the NCAA regional qualifying standard in the 110-meter hurdles preliminary race. O'Hare ran a personal-best 14.14 and missed qualifying for the finals by one-tenth of a second.
2007 Big 12 Conference Championships
Day Two Results
All-Big 12 (top eight finishers)
John Rouse (Hammer)
Shawn Schmidt (Decathlon)
Andrew Webb (Decathlon
Big 12 Scorers
John Rouse (Hammer - 192-4/58.62m) - three points
Shawn Schmidt (Decathlon - 7,221 points) - four points
Andrew Webb (Decathlon - 7,079 points) - two points
Heptathlon (NCAA Auto.: 7,500 points; NCAA Prov.: 6,900 points)
1. Neil Hines (Iowa State), 7,508 points
5. Shawn Schmidt (Texas), 7,221 points
7. Andrew Webb (Texas), 7,079 points
Hammer (NCAA Reg.: 55.60m)
1. Egor Agafonov (Kansas), 230-1/70.14m
6. John Rouse (Texas), 192-4 (58.62m)
100 meter preliminary (NCAA Reg.: 10.50)
p1. Jamaal Charles (Texas), 10.34 (-0.9)
p18. Brian Beach (Texas), 10.83 (0.7)
p22. Trey Griffin (Texas), 11.03 (-0.3)
200 meter preliminary (NCAA Reg.: 21.19)
p1. Reggie Witherspoon (Baylor), 20.32 (+0.6)
p10. Jamaal Charles (Texas), 20.83 (+0.6)
800 meter preliminary (NCAA Reg.: 1:50.40)
1. Anthony Chiulli (Colorado), 1:48.85
p6. Jacob Hernandez (Texas), 1:50.68
p23. Darren Brown (Texas), 1:55.69
1,500 meter preliminary (NCAA Reg.: 3:47.80)
p1. Stephen Pifer (Colorado), 3:46.72
p2. Leo Manzano (Texas), 3:47.77
p4. Erik Stanley (Texas), 3:46.83
p9. Joe Thorne (Texas), 3:48.33
110 meter hurdles preliminary (NCAA Reg.: 14.30)
1. Marlon Odom (Texas Tech), 13.63 (-0.2)
9. Elliot O'Hare (Texas), 14.14 (-0.2)
10. Trevor Gerland (Texas), 14.22 (-0.2)
400 meter hurdles preliminary (NCAA Reg.: 52.51)
p1. Bryan Scott (Texas Tech), 50.90
p2. Hamza Deyaf (Texas), 51.20
p10. Alan Bean (Texas), 52.82