The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Indoor Championships
Udoh, Sutherland lead No. 7 Women's Track & Field to open NCAA Indoor Championships
03.08.2013 | Track & Field / Cross Country w, Track & Field / Cross Country
March 8, 2013
Friday Results
| Results
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The No. 7 Texas Women's Track & Field team earned All-America performances from juniors Christy Udoh and Sara Sutherland to kick off the NCAA Indoor Championships at Randal Tyson Track.
After qualifying eighth out of the 200 meters prelims earlier in the day, Udoh recorded a personal-best 23.13 to finish seventh and earn her spot on the podium. The latter race marked Udoh's first NCAA indoor final and her second PR in three meets.
"All I was telling myself during my prelim race was to make it to the final. And as soon as I got to the final, I'm not going to lie, I was definitely a little nervous," Udoh said. "But I took good instructions from my coaches, went out there and executed. I'm very, very proud of myself with the career best. This just puts me in a position where I know outdoor season is going to be amazing."
For the second straight race, Sutherland eclipsed her 5,000 meters career best as well as the UT indoor record in the event, finishing 8th in 15:50.04. Sutherland is now a two-time indoor All-American in the 5,000m after finishing fifth in 2012.
"I was so excited to be here and we had awesome team energy coming into this day," Sutherland said. "Stepping up to the line, that was the most nervous I have felt this season by a long shot. But I was still just so excited to be in that race. I was a little off-kilter because everybody went out so fast, but I'm really happy to have scored for the team and earned All-America honors."
UT had three qualify for event finals out of Friday's preliminaries, including sophomore Morgan Snow, junior Briana Nelson and senior Kendra Chambers.
Snow advanced to her first NCAA final in the 60-meter hurdles, earning the second automatic qualification out of the first heat in a career-best 8.11.
"I got on the line and I thought, 'It's time and I'm worthy,'" Snow said. "This one wasn't even about me though, it was about my team. I knew I could make this final. We believe in ourselves and that can be a dangerous thing. I believed in myself and I got it done."
Snow had set a career best of 8.26 in the 60m hurdles to open her sophomore campaign that kept her in the top 20 nationally throughout the season. She did not better it until the Arkansas Final Qualifier on March 1, when she won the preliminary in 8.17 to solidify her spot at the NCAA Championships.
Three Longhorns raced in the 400 meters in Nelson, fellow junior Danielle Dowie and freshman Courtney Okolo. Nelson will compete in Saturday's final after posting the fifth-fastest time and a season best of 52.66.
"I knew that (Illinois' Ashley Spencer) had one of the fastest times getting out, and I got out even faster so I knew I was in a good place," Nelson said. "I mentally told myself to keep that pace and don't back off a bit, and that's what I did. I feel like I've been consistently dropping time, which is all that really matters to me. It's just great to make the finals indoors because it's my first time, so to be an individual All-American is really exciting."
In the fourth heat of the 400m, Okolo was in the midst of a strong opening lap when she got tangled up with Texas A&M's Ibukun Mayungbe around the first turn of the second lap. She recovered to finish the race in 56.52.
Also qualifying for Saturday's final was Chambers in the 800 meters. Chambers ran a 2:06.15, just 12-hundredths of a second off her indoor PR, in the second of two heats to advance on time to the event final.
"I really enjoyed my race today," Chambers said. "It was really smooth and I felt comfortable the whole time. I could have probably closed a little bit better, I was in third and got pushed to fifth in the last five meters, but it was a good race overall. I'm so excited to have made the final and now that I know how it feels to run comfortable, I'm just going to go out and have fun tomorrow."
Junior Shanay Briscoe was up first for Texas on Friday, competing in her third NCAA Indoor Championships in the high jump. Briscoe's top clearance on the day was 1.84 meters (6-0.5) and she finished ninth. Briscoe will also open up the day for the Longhorns tomorrow in the indoor pentathlon.
Junior A'Lexus Brannon competed in her first NCAA Championships meet in long jump, tallying a top mark of 6.04 meters (19-9.75) and finishing 11th.
In addition to Snow, Nelson, Chambers and Briscoe, redshirt freshman Kaitlin Petrillose (pole vault) and Texas' second-ranked 4x400-meter relay team will contend for Texas on Saturday.
UT sits tied for 27th with Udoh and Sutherland's three combined points. In first after opening day is Kansas with 20 points.
TEXAS RESULTS - NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS | FRIDAY, MARCH 8
Q - automatic qualification | q - qualified on time | * - denotes career best | ^ - denotes school record
60m hurdles prelims
4. Morgan Snow, 8.11Q*
400m prelims
5. Briana Nelson, 52.66q
12. Danielle Dowie, 53.30
15. Courtney Okolo, 56.52
800m prelims
8. Kendra Chambers, 2:06.15q
200m semis
8. Christy Udoh, 23.31q
14. Chalonda Goodman, 23.61
200m final
7. Christy Udoh, 23.13*
5,000m
8. Sara Sutherland, 15:50.04*^
High jump
9. Shanay Briscoe, 1.84m (6-0.5)
Long jump
11. A'Lexus Brannon, 6.04m (19-9.75)
