The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Outdoor Championships
Three Longhorns, 4x400 relay advance to finals at NCAA Men's Track and Field Championships
06.12.2008 | Track & Field / Cross Country m, Track & Field / Cross Country
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| 4x400-meter relay: Tevas Everett, Jacob Hernandez, Tevan Everett, and Danzell Fortson (left to right) | |
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DES MOINES, Iowa -- Texas junior Jacob Hernandez (800 meters), seniors Leo Manzano (1,500 meters) and Darren Brown (1,500 meters) and the 4x400-meter relay advanced to the finals on the second day of the NCAA Championships on Thursday. Both Manzano and Hernandez entered the meet as the national leader in their event, while the mile relay took the last qualifying spot by .10 of a second.
"I'm happy for the guys that advanced to the finals, but they know they still have work to do," said Texas men's head coach Bubba Thornton. "I've been talking about how the playing field is pretty level at this meet and you can't take anything for granted. It's really hard to make the finals in any event and you could see that the competition was tough today."
Hernandez placed second in the first heat of the 800 meters with a time of 1:47.18. His time also was the second-fastest qualifying time for Saturday's final.
"This is the last race of the season for a lot of the guys out there, so I was running as hard as I could to make sure I got to the final," said Hernandez. "I thought I ran a good race and I'm happy with that performance. The final is going to have a competitive field. I'm just going to give it my best, and hopefully, give them a run for their money."
Manzano used a 3:41.70 to win his 1,500-meter heat and was the top qualifier for Saturday's final. After getting boxed in early in the race, Manzano used his experience to get out of trouble, slowing down and moving to the outside of the pack before moving to the front. From there, he held the top spot for the final two laps.
"There was a lot of bumping out there today," said Manzano. "It was a battle. I got boxed in and I knew I had to get out of there. The guys at the front were running a good pace, so I wanted to get up there and run with them. With that said, I felt really good out there and I'm looking forward to the final."
Nobody was more affected by the bumping than senior Darren Brown. He was near the front of the pack coming through the second lap, but was knocked to the track with about 500 meters to go. As a result of the fall, he finished 13th in heat one with a time of 4:08.32.
The Texas coaches filed a protest claiming that Brown was impeded and not given a fair opportunity to qualify for the finals. The meet referee reviewed the protest and ruled that Brown would be reinstated, adding him to Saturday's final.
"We were able to protest to the referee that Darren did not get a fair chance to participate in this championship," explained Thornton. "The meet referee agreed with our protest and added Darren to the final."
Junior Kyle Miller finished ninth in the second heat of the 1,500 with a time of 3:43.88. He missed qualifying for the final by just .02 of a second.
The 4x400-meter relay team of juniors Tevas and Tevan Everett, Hernandez and freshman Danzell Fortson earned the final qualifying spot for the finals with a 3:05.09. That time was just .10 of a second in front of ninth-place TCU.
In what would be the last race of his collegiate career, senior Hamza Deyaf placed sixth in the second heat of the 400-meter hurdles with a 50.82. His time placed him 12th overall, missing the final by four spots.
"I want to thank Hamza for all that he has done for the program," added Thornton. "I know he would have liked to make the finals, but he's accomplished a lot and it has been great having him as a part of our program."
The Horns will be back in action on Friday with the finals of the pole vault and the high jump. Freshman Maston Wallace will compete in the pole vault at 4:15 p.m. Central, while junior Raymond Harris will take part in the high jump at 7 p.m.
