Men's Track and Field Track uses home cooking to prepare for nationals

NCAA Championhips Meet Info | NCAA Outdoor Championships - Declarations/Start Lists/Results

By Megan Fontenot

May 31, 2013

There are many facets to being a collegiate coach. Planning and preparation are keys to the success of any team.

During Bubba Thornton's tenure at men's track and field head coach, there have been 24 NCAA individual champions, a national relay champion, and 83 athletes who have combined fro 207 All-America honors. In addition, UT has finished in the top 25 at the outdoor national meet in each of the last 14 years and in the top 10 four for the last eight years, including a third-place finish in 2006, a fourth place finish in 2008, and ninth in 2012.

Now in his 18th season, Thornton continues to provide the coaching expertise that has helps the Longhorns, who are ranked No. 8 in the country this week, on the national stage.

With assistant coaches Mario Sategna and John Hayes, Thornton formulated a plan that would give Texas its best chance for success at next week's NCAA Outdoor Championships.

"I have never talked about winning a national title," Thornton said. "I want them to have their best performances. If we get those best performances, we will finish high."

During the indoor and outdoor regular season, Texas minimized travel and competition for athletes in an effort to reach nationals. The Longhorns hosted four outdoor meets, including the 86th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays and last week's the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

As Mario Sategna explains, "we have done a great job of not over-traveling or over-competing people. We think of this when we planned the outdoor season. That is why when the outdoor season starts we try to have as many home meets as possible, that and the fact that we are bias and think we have the very best facility in America. We don't need to go anywhere."

With eliminating the stress of travel, the Longhorns focused on the technique and strengths of their respective events as foundation. This resulted in sweeping the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor titles for the third time in school history.

And at last week's NCAA West Regional meet, the Longhorns produced 15 qualifiers for the national championships in Eugene, Ore., which starts Wednesday. That total ranks third nationally among men's teams.

Now the 14 athletes who will be competing at nationals look to polish their technique during the 10-day preparation period.

For the throws and sprint squads, training included repetition.

Throwers Ryan Crouser, Hayden Baillio, Clint Harris, Blake Jakobsson, and Will Spence tossed the shot and discus many times while Santegna critiqued.

Sategna, considered one of the top combined and field event coaches in the nation, said, "this week is about not letting guys get too lethargic. We want to fine tune and touch base on the fundamentals. While repetition is needed to do this, we try to keep a balance. We do not want them doing too much because next week will roll around sooner than we know. It is not about volume right now; taking thirty or forty throws. It is about dialing yourself into the knowing that you have three or four throws to make the final. "

The sprint qualifiers, under the direction of Thornton, followed the same mechanism.

"Repetition helps with polishing," said senior Keiron Stewart, who is making his fourth-straight trip to the NCAA Outdoor meet in the 110-meter hurdles. "We practice coming out of the blocks. You fine tune things that you may have messed up over the season."

While repetition helped for the throws and sprint groups this week, cutting down on practice time with their respective event was the aid for distance runners and the lone pole vaulter.

Distance runners Patrick McGregor, Ryan Dohner, Craig Lutz and Trevor Van Ackeren spent the week tapering off before the race to stay sharp for their events. There were a few weight room workouts, distance runs, and relaxation time.
 "For me the week has been about relaxing, staying sharp, and doing enough feel race really," said Van Ackeren, a senior transfer from Princeton who will compete in the 3,000-meter steeplechase . "We do not want to overdo it, especially preparing for long distances."

Reese Watson's practice week included taking a break from the pole vault to help with getting physically and mentally prepared to compete. After recovering and enduring injuries this season, the Spring, Texas, native is aiming to stay healthy for the meet, a task that requires he cut back on his vaulting.

As the only freshman pole vaulter to advance to nationals from the West region, Watson admits he is a bit nervous.

"Getting to go out there to compete with older athletes will be overwhelming, but I know that I deserve to be amongst them," said Watson. "I have proven class does not matter."

The Texas coaches, believes all 14 Longhorns competing in the national meet have something to prove.

"There are no givens. These guys are going to prove that nothing was given to them," Thornton said. "

Sategna echoed that sentiment, "it does not matter what your rank was coming into the competition, you have three throws to make it. We are down to the final 24, 12 from the west and 12 from the east region. With that we have to maximize, take nothing for granted and make it into the final. When you get into the final, you can let it lose."

Texas will have 14 athletes competing in 15 events at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Ore.

Event	Seed	Name	Time/Mark
400 Meters	7.	Zack Bilderback	46.10
1,500 Meters	14.	Patrick McGregor	3:45.66
10,000 Meters	17.	Ryan Dohner	30:04.45
	21.	Craig Lutz	30:18.01
110-Meter Hurdles	8.	Keiron Stewart	13.64w
3,000-Meter Steeplechase	19.	Trevor Van Ackeren	8:46.05
Pole Vault	5.	Reese Watson	17-8.50 (5.40m)
Shot Put	2.	Ryan Crouser	62-11.25 (19.18m)
	9.	Hayden Baillio	62-0.25 (18.90m)
	22.	Will Spence	59-9.50 (18.22m)
Discus	8.	Ryan Crouser	189-9 (57.84m)
	10.	Blake Jakobsson	188-0 (57.30m)
	11.	Clint Harris	187-5 (57.12m)
Decathlon	1.	Johannes Hock	8,293
	10.	Isaac Murphy	7,758

Note: Seed is based on the mark/time posted at the NCAA West Preliminary Round.

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics

Men's Track and Field Track uses home cooking to prepare for nationals