Longhorns set to host 88th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays

Wednesday, March 25

Austin, Texas

10:30 a.m.

University of Texas

88th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays

Buy Tickets

Longhorns set to host 88th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays

03.24.2015 | Texas Relays, Track & Field / Cross Country

More than 7,000 athletes to compete at prestigious meet

2015 Competitors

• Men's Invitational/University/College/High School - Final Competitors | Men's Invitational/University/College/High School - Final Competitors
• Women's Invitational/University/College/High School - Final Competitors | Women's Invitational/University/College/High School - Final Competitors

AUSTIN, Texas – Thousands of athletes head to Mike A. Myers Stadium this weekend for the 88th Annual Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. The meet is set to start on Wednesday and runs through Saturday with top collegiate and professional athletes competing as well as hundreds of high school teams from the state of Texas. The meet will be broadcast on Longhorn Network with coverage of each days' action.

With more than 7,000 entries in this year's meet the action will be packed all week long at the meet. The Texas Relays is one of the longest running track and field meet in the nation and regularly brings some of the top talent in the sport to compete.

This year's meet features multiple Olympians, including Texas alumni Leo Manzano and Trey Hardee. Members of the Japanese National team also will be in Austin for the 88th edition of the Texas Relays.

Tickets are available for individual days or session passes through the UT Athletics Ticket Office. Fans can call 512-471-3333 or go to TexasSports.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the ticket window at Myers Stadium. Entry on Wednesday and Thursday is free.

Texas enters this week after some strong showings at the UTSA Challenge Invitational. Both the men and women also finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships. The women are ranked No. 3 in the outdoor preseason rankings from the USTFCCCA and the men stand at No. 5. Texas is one of four schools to have its men and women ranked in the top five.

Fans can keep up with the action at the Nike Texas Relays by following @UTexasTrack and @TexasSports on Twitter. They can also use and follow the hashtag #TXRelays15 to interact and keep up with the events.

Action gets underway on Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. with the first day of the heptathlon and decathlon. The multi-events will close on Thursday morning beginning at 10 a.m. and field events are slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. The first running session of the meet starts at 4:30 on Thursday.

Events to Watch
• Invitational 800m: Texas alumnus and Olympic silver medalist in the 1500m Leo Manzano will open the Thursday evening running events session on the track in a field against a number of other professional runners.
• Women's Pole Vault: 9 of the 10 collegiate women in the field of 11 in Section A competed at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
• Men's Elite Pole Vault: Indoor collegiate record holder Shawn Barber will be up against a field of top notch professionals. Sam Kendricks, 2014 NCAA champion is in the field along with other former NCAA champs Jack Whitt, Jason Colwick.
• 4x100m Relays: The men's and women's relays as well as the high school boys and girls will pit the best of the best against each other. This year, Texas is honoring standout alumnae Carlette Guidry by naming the University/College Women's 4x100 in her honor.
• 4x400m Relays: The final event of the meet will not disappoint with more of the top relay teams in the nation going head to head. Texas also is honoring former UT star and Olympic gold medalist Sanya Richards-Ross by naming the University Women's Invitational 4x400 after the Longhorn superstar.
• Men's 100m: The field will feature some of the fastest athletes in the nation, including Texas school record holder Senoj-Jay Givans and Baylor's Trayvon Bromell. The invitational section will have TCU's Ronnie Baker up against Texas alumnus and Olympic silver medalist in the decathlon, Trey Hardee as well as a handful of other professional runners.
• Women's 1500m: Texas sophomore Sandie Raines is in the field against some top collegiate runners and professionals. Former Longhorn Mia Behm is in the race as well as 2014 Bowerman winner Laura Roesler.

Texas Track & Field Notebook
Longhorns Both in Top Five
• This week the men and women both hold spots in the Top Five of the USTFCCCA Rankings. The women are No. 3 and the men stand at No. 5.
• The preseason outdoor rankings reflect the best marks from athletes last season.
• Texas is among four schools that have their men and women ranked in the Top Five.
• The Big 12 Conference is well represented in the Top 25 with six women's teams and four men's teams ranked this week. All four of the men's teams are in the top 15 and five of the women's are as well. Texas Tech (10) joins Texas in the men's Top 10 and Baylor's women are No. 10.

Texas Takes Sixth at NCAA's
• The Longhorn men and women both finished sixth at the NCAA Indoor Championships
• Texas saw Courtney Okolo win the 400 meters for her first indoor title, and the women's 4x400 also took first place.

Standard Bearers
• Texas currently holds seven collegiate records combined among the men and women. The nearest competitor is Arizona and Colorado with five.

2015 The Bowerman Watch List
The most prestigious award in collegiate track and field, The Bowerman, is awarded by the USTFCCCA annually to the top male and female track and field star annually. Since its inception in 2009, the winners combined to win three Olympic medals in 2012.
• 3-time NCAA champion Ryan Crouser is on the men's Post-Indoor watch list.
• NCAA outdoor 400m champ Courtney Okolo is on the women's Post-Indoor watch list.

400m Depth
• The women's team boasts one of the deepest 400m groups in the nation.
• The Longhorns displayed that depth finishing 1-2-4 at the Big 12 meet to score 23 points.
• Courtney Okolo is the collegiate record holder outdoors in the event at 50.03 seconds. She is the defending NCAA champion and also won her first indoor NCAA title this year.
• Ashley Spencer has two NCAA outdoor 400 titles to her claim as a freshman and sophomore.
• Kendall Baisden won the 2015 IAAF World Junior Championships 400m and 4x400.
• The trio of Okolo, Spencer and Baisden joined up with Morolake Akinosun to win the 4x400 at the NCAA indoor meet and posted the No. 5 time in collegiate history.
• The men's team also has strength in the 400m, Zack Bilderback successfully defended his Big 12 title in the 400 and finished sixth at the NCAA meet.
• Earlier this year Bilderback crossed the line in 45.95 seconds to finish third at the Tyson Invitational while breaking his own school record of 46.03 set last year.
• The men's 4x400 relay also broke the school record to finish third at the NCAA Championships in 3:06.56.

Snow Takes Bronze
• Morgan Snow backed up her impressive showing in the NCAA Championships prelims in the 60 meter hurdles by tying her personal best time to finish third and grab six valuable points for the team. Snow ran 8.07 seconds.
• Snow ran 8.07 seconds earlier during indoor season to finish second at the Tyson Invitational.

Givans Breaks School Record at NCAA's
• Senoj-Jay Givans had a very successful indoor season and capped it off with a school record.
• Givans broke the school record in the 60 meters during prelims at the NCAA Championships with a time of 6.57 seconds. He followed that up with a 6.58 time to finish fourth.
• At the Big 12 Championships, Givans successfully defended his title against three of the top five sprinters in the nation in the 60 meters.
• Givans is only the second athlete to repeat as men's 60m Big 12 champ.

Mahler Climbs to Sixth Place-Finish in Heptathlon
• Wolf Mahler claimed his first Big 12 Conference title in the heptathlon this year and rode that momentum to a sixth-place finish at the NCAA meet.
• Mahler posted personal bests in four of the seven events and used his speed in the 1,000 meters to move up the leaderboard in the final event and finish sixth with a total of 5,747 points.
• His score ranks sixth in school history as well.
• The 2015 NCAA indoor heptathlon was one of the most competitive in history. The margin of victory was only two points for Minnesota's Luca Wieland over Georgia's Garrett Scantling.

Raines Makes Strides in Distance Events for Texas
• Sandie Raines proved to be a valuable addition to the Texas distance group in 2015. The sophomore transfer from Arkansas ran No. 2 time in school history at the Husky Classic and was less than half a second from breaking the record in the 5000m.
• She backed that up by finishing 8th at the NCAA Championships to become a first team All-American in the event.
• At the Husky Classic, Raines finished third against an NCAA Championship caliber field.
• She made a significant impact at the Big 12 Championship, scoring 5 points in the 3000m and running a leg of the DMR that finished third to score 6 points.

Longhorns Earn USTFCCCA Honors
Following the NCAA Indoor Championships USTFCCCA awarded its All-America Team honors
• First Team Men: Zack Bilderback (400m, 4x400); Ryan Crouser (shot put); Senoj-Jay Givans (60m, 4x400); Chris Irvin (4x400); Wolf Mahler (heptathlon); Byron Robinson
• First Team Women: Morolake Akinosun (4x400); Kendall Baisden (4x400); Courtney Okolo (400m, 4x400); Sandie Raines (5000m); Morgan Snow (60H); Ashley Spencer (400m, 4x400)
Prior to the NCAA Indoor Championships the USTFCCCA handed out its regional awards for the indoor season. Texas claimed three South Central Region honors.
• Head Coach Mario Sategna was named Men's Head Coach of the Year
• Associate Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey earned Women's Assistant Coach of the Year
• Ryan Crouser was named Men's Field Athlete of the Year