Track & Field hosts NCAA West Preliminary Rounds this week

Thursday, May 28

Austin, Texas

Noon

University of Texas

NCAA West Preliminary Round

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Track & Field hosts NCAA West Preliminary Rounds this week

05.27.2015 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Longhorns hope to advance through to NCAA Championship site

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track and Field is eyeing a national championship this season, and the quest for the title begins this week in Austin as the Longhorns prepare to host the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds.

The nation's top talent from the west region will be in action at Mike A. Myers Stadium from Thursday through Saturday as track and field's finest fight for spots at the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon this June.

Texas boasts one of the top programs in the nation with the women entering the meet ranked No. 7 and the men stand at No. 10. The west region houses some of the best teams in the country. Eight of the women's top 12 teams will be at this meet and half of the men's top 10 teams.

Action begins each day at noon with field events. Running events start at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, 5 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

The top 48 athletes in the region qualify for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds with 12 spots up for grabs at the NCAA championship site. A total of 24 teams qualify for this meet in the two relay events with 12 spots in Eugene available as well. The Longhorns have a total of 29 entries for the men this week and 24 for the women. Both rank in the top five for number of entries.

Texas is coming off a dominant performance at the Big 12 Conference Championships that saw the Longhorns sweep the men's and women's titles. After also sweeping the titles indoors it marked just the fourth time in Big 12 history a school has won all four conference titles. The Longhorns represent three of those occasions with the last coming in 2006.

Fans can keep up with the action online with a live webcast provided at texassports.com. Live results will be provided by branchsportstech.com as well. Updates, results, notes and more will be available on Twitter by following @UTexasTrack and @NCAA. Fans are encouraged to keep up and interact with the meet by following and using the hashtag #NCAATF.

Tickets are available with single-day or all-session passes available. Adult tickets are $35 for all-session and $15 for single-day. Youth age 17 and under and senior citizen tickets are $25 for all-session and $10 for single-day. College students may purchase discounted tickets with a valid university ID for $25 for all-session and $10 single-day. All seats are general admission.

Events to Watch
• Men's 100m: Fast times are expected in this event. A total of 9 men have run sub-10 seconds in this event in the NCAA this year and 7 of them are from this region. Senoj-Jay Givans of Texas is just outside that group at 10.02 seconds.
• Women's 100m: Like the men, the fastest women in the nation come from schools in this region. With 4 of the top 6 times coming from the West this year, these heats should also bring great speed to the track. Morolake Akinosun is currently No. 2 in the nation and will see Oregon's Jenna Prandini and Jasmine Todd in this event.
• Women's 400m: Courtney Okolo and Ashley Spencer of Texas represent the last three NCAA champions in this event. Okolo won last year and Spencer won as a freshman and sophomore while at Illinois. Kendall Baisden of Texas is ranked third in the nation in this event to give Texas a triple threat.
• Men's 10,000m: Runners from the west region represent more than 35 of the to 50 times in the nation this year. Previous NCAA champions and All-Americans are ranked as low as 17th in the region this year to make this one of the deepest fields in either the NCAA West or East Preliminary Rounds this week. Texas will bring 4 runners to the track for this event.
• Women's 1500m: The last 2 NCAA Champions are expected to go head-to-head in this event as Arizona State's Shelby Houlihan and Oklahoma State's Natalja Piliusina take to the track.
• Men's 110m Hurdles: 6 of the top 8 times in the country this year have come out of the West region. Arkansas' Omar McLeod leads the way at 13.21 seconds and broke the indoor collegiate record in the 60m hurdles this year. Spencer Dunkerley-Offor from Texas ranks 6th in the NCAA and is looking to advance to his first outdoor NCAA Championship after finishing 16th in this meet a year ago.

Texas Track & Field Notebook
Longhorns Both in Top 10 Nationally
• This week the men and women both hold spots in the top 10 of the USTFCCCA Rankings. The women moved down one spot to No. 7 and the men climbed up one spot to No. 9.
• An amazing eight schools have their men and women ranked in the top 10.
• The Big 12 Conference is well represented in the top 25 with six women's teams and five men's teams ranked this week. Four of the women's teams are ranked No. 12 or better.

Longhorns Sweep Big 12 Championships
• Texas won both the men's and women's titles at the Big 12 Championships in Ames, Iowa.
• The Longhorns also swept the indoor conference championships, marking the first time Texas has accomplished that feat since 2006.
• The double sweep is the fourth time in Big 12 history a school has won all four titles. Texas has now done it three times (1999, 2006, 2015). Nebraska did so in 2000.

Akinosun Claims Four Crowns
• Morolake Akinosun dominated the Big 12 Conference Championships winning four events.
• Akinosun successfully defended her titles in the 100m and 200m.
• Akinosun also ran legs on the 4x100 and 4x400 relays
• With her four wins, Akinosun scored 25 points for the women's team

Hock, Mahler Finish 1-2 in Decathlon
• Texas scored 18 points in the decathlon at the Big 12 Championships as Johannes Hock and Wolf Mahler finished first and second.
• Hock scored 7,367 points using the throwing events to come from behind and win on Day 2.
• Mahler battled his way up the standings as well and crushed the field in the 1,500 to climb into second place in the final event.

Crouser Repeats His Double
• Thrower Ryan Crouser successfully defended his Big 12 titles in the shot put and discus.
• Crouser came from behind in Round 5 of the discus to claim the lead and eventually won with a new season-best throw of 58.92m (193-4).

Longhorns Sweep Big 12 Pole Vault Titles
• Texas proved to be the top pole vault program in the Big 12 Conference winning the men's and women's titles
• Kaitlin Petrillose defended her title and broke her Big 12 meet record by clearing 4.43m (14-6.25) to win her sixth overall Big 12 title combining indoors and out.
• Reese Watson won his first conference title with his clearance of 5.35m (17-6.50). His win was the fifth men's pole vault title outdoors to give Texas more in that event than any other school.
• Texas also proved to be deep in the pole vault as the women scored 15.5 points and the men tallied 16 with multiple scorers on each side.

Raines Runs to Victory
• Sophomore transfer Sandie Raines made a huge impact for the women's team winning the 5,000 meters at the Big 12 Conference Championships. She led from start to finish and pulled away on the last lap.
• Her win put Texas up by 8 points over Kansas State heading into the final event of the meet, virtually ensuring the team title.
• Raines also finished second in the 1,500 hanging with NCAA champion Natalja Piliusina from Oklahoma State for nearly the entire race. With her win in the 5k and runner-up she tallied 18 points for the women's team.

Texas Takes Top Two Spots in Hurdles
• Freshman Ariel Jones and junior Melissa Gonzalez finished 1-2 in the 400m hurdles to score 18 points for the Longhorns at the Big 12 Conference Championships.
• The win for Jones marks the 11th for the Texas women in the event.
• Both ran personal bests in the race and rank 7th and 8th in the West region, respectively.

Givans Breaks School Record
• Sprinter Senoj-Jay Givans broke his own school record in the 100 meters during prelims at the Big 12 Conference Championships.
• Givans ran 10.07 seconds to advance to the final. He finished second in the final in 10.02, but the time was wind-aided and does not count toward record keeping.

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-regular season watch list.
• NCAA outdoor 400m champ Courtney Okolo is on the women's watch list.
• Okolo was a finalist for the 2014 award after breaking the collegiate record in the 400.

Baisden Named Academic All-District
• Sophomore sprinter Kendall Baisden was named to the Capital One Academic All-District Team for her efforts in the classroom and on the track.
• Baisden carries a 3.82 GPA in supply chain management.

25 Longhorns Named Academic All-Big 12
• Texas had 25 members on the 2015 Academic All-Big 12 Track & Field Teams.
• 10 men were named to the first team, the most in school history and the most in the league this year among the men's teams
• Blake Jakobsson and Megan Siebert both were recognized for the fourth time in their careers.

Texas Sees Success Across Board
• Texas has 102 combined Big 12 Conference postseason titles after 7 wins in 2014-15.
• The Longhorns have had one of the best seasons in Big 12 history winning 10 conference titles overall: Volleyball, Men's Indoor Track & Field, Women's Indoor Track & Field, Men's Swimming & Diving, Women's Swimming & Diving, Men's Golf, Rowing, Men's Outdoor Track & Field, Women's Outdoor Track & Field, Baseball Tournament.