Track & Field geared for NCAA Championships

Wednesday, June 10

Eugene, Ore.

1:30 p.m.

University of Texas

NCAA Outdoor Championships

06.08.2015 | Track & Field / Cross Country

ESPN to produce expanded, unprecedented coverage for meet that is being held June 10-13

EUGENE, Ore. - All eyes will be on Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, this week as the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships begin on Wednesday. The Texas women are searching for their first team championship since 2005 with 12 entries and the men have 10 entries, looking for their first team title in school history.

Action begins at Historic Hayward Field on Wednesday morning and runs through Saturday. The meet this year will feature a new schedule format designed to bring more attention to each gender and the team competitions.

Last year, the Texas women finished second and are among the favorites to win this year in what is expected to be a closely contested team championship. The men are looking for their third top 10 finish in the last four years after finishing 11th a year ago.

Texas has two past individual champions competing this week as Ryan Crouser looks to win his third straight shot put title, and Ashley Spencer tries to win her third title in the 400 meters and her first as a Longhorn. The women's 4x400 meter relay team also won last year, setting an NCAA Championship meet record in the process.

The men and women will compete on different days with semifinals for the men running on Wednesday and finals will be Friday. The women will compete on Thursday and Saturday. This format will allow for ESPN to more closely follow the team scoring and provide a broadcast dedicated to each gender as the drama unfolds for the team championships.

ESPN will also provide exclusive online coverage this year via ESPN3.com. The regularly scheduled TV windows will also be available online, but the exclusive online content will feature in-depth coverage of the field events and other coverage.

Action starts at 11:30 a.m. Pacific on Wednesday with Wolf Mahler in the decathlon. Fans can keep up with the action online with a live webcast provided at ESPN3.com each day. Live broadcasts will be available on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. Check your local listings. Live results will be provided by flashresults.com as well. Updates, results, notes and more will be available on Twitter by following @UTexasTrack, @NCAA and @USTFCCCA. Fans are encouraged to keep up and interact with the meet by following and using the hashtag #NCAAD1TF.

Events to Watch
• Men's 100m: A total of 9 different men have run sub-10 seconds in this event this year. Texas sophomore Senoj-Jay Givans is just outside that group at 10.02 seconds. Could the entire final heat run sub-10? This will be a race every fan has highlighted.
• Women's 100m: Texas junior Morolake Akinosun is looking for her first individual title and faces a very strong field. She ranks No. 3 in the with her time of 11.00. Oregon brings 2 runners who have run sub-11 in Jasmine Todd and Jenna Prandini. With those 3 runners so close in times and the home track for the Ducks, this is among the most anticipated women's sprint events.
• Women's 400m: Ashley Spencer of Texas won a pair of 400m titles while at Illinois. Can the senior close her career with a 3rd and become the 1st woman to win 3 NCAA titles in the event since Suziann Reid did for Texas in 1996, 1998 and 1999. Or can sophomore Kendall Baisden win her 1st individual title?
• Men's 10,000m: The depth in this event is better than it has ever been. Oregon will have XX runners in the field and have the full support of their home crowd. Texas senior Craig Lutz is eyeing an All-American performance to close his outdoor career..
• Men's Shot Put: Ryan Crouser is the back-to-back champion. He is ranked No. 1 in the nation, leading No. 2 by 10 inches. He is looking to become the first men's shot putter to win 3 straight NCAA titles since Brent Noon of Georgia won in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
• Men's & Women's Pole Vault: The women's indoor and outdoor records have been broken multiple times this year by the combination of Sandi Morris from Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin's Demi Payne. They will look to break it again at the championship meet when they are head-to-head. Akron's Shawn Barber broke the indoor collegiate record and has broken the Canadian national record twice outdoors. He failed his attempt at breaking the collegiate record at the Longhorn Invitational. Despite no Longhorns in either field, this event will be highly-anticipated and could go down in history. Many media outlets are touting 2015 as #YearOfTheVault.

Akinosun, Sategna to Appear on TrackTownLIVE
• During practice days at the NCAA Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, the USTFCCCA and TrackTown USA will again be hosting "TrackTownLIVE" from Historic Hayward Field. Multiple star athletes and coaches from collegiate track and field will stop by the production for appearances and interviews during the two days of the show.
• Texas sprinter Morolake Akinosun and Head Coach Mario Sategna will make appearances during Tuesday's webcast at 1:55 p.m.
• Fans can use #AskMorolake on Twitter to interact with the webcast and perhaps have their questions answered by Akinosun live on the air. Fans can interact with other athletes as well with individual hashtags for each. Check USTFCCCA.org for a list of interviewees.
• "TrackTownLIVE" will air live online from 3:30-5 p.m. Pacific time on Monday and the second day of coverage will run from 1-3:30 p.m. on Tuesday.
• The show will be simulcast on USTFCCCA.org, FloTrack.org and Runnerspace.com both days.

Texas Track & Field Notebook
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 final men's watch list.
• Morolake Akinosun is on the final women's watch list after winning four events at the Big 12 Conference Championships and qualifying for NCAA's in all four as well.

Longhorns Both in Top 15 Nationally
• This week the men and women both hold spots in the top 15 of the USTFCCCA Rankings heading into the NCAA Championships. The women moved down two spots to No. 9 and the men fell out of the Top 10 to No. 12.
• A total of seven 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. Three of the women's teams are ranked No. 12 or better.

Akinosun Eyes Titles in Four Events
• Morolake Akinosun has qualified for the NCAA Championships in four events (100, 200, 4x100, 4x400) and looks to win her first individual title.
• Akinosun is ranked No. 3 in 100 and No. 5 in 200

Spencer Seeks Historic Third Title
• Senior Ashley Spencer won the 400 twice while at Illinois. In her final year, Spencer looks to win her first individual title as a Longhorn and become the first woman since Suziann Reid to win three titles in the 400.
• Reid won her titles for Texas in 1996, 1998 and 1999
• Sophomore Kendall Baisden also will run the 400 and is ranked No. 4 in the field.

Crouser Hopes for 3-Peat
• Ryan Crouser is the back-to-back defending champion in the shot put. He looks to become the first man to win three straight NCAA titles in the event since 1994.
• Crouser also will compete in the discus with teammate Clint Harris.

Texas Hurdlers Qualify in Bunches
• The Longhorns have qualified 5 different runners in the hurdle events for the NCAA meet.
• Morgan Snow and BJ Adeokun will run the 100m hurdles
• Spencer Dunkerley-Offor will compete in 110m hurdles
• Ariel Jones and Melissa Gonzalez will run the 400m hurdles

Lutz, Raines Show Strength in Distance Events
• Senior Craig Lutz looks to close his outdoor career with an All-American performance in the 10,000 meters. He finished third as a sophomore at the NCAA Championship and enters this week ranked fifth.
• Lutz finished 2nd at the Big 12 Championships in the 10,000 and 5,000.
• Sophomore transfer Sandie Raines has proven a great addition to the Texas team. She eyes her second All-American performance of the year in the 5,000 after finishing eighth indoors.
• Raines won her first Big 12 title this year, claiming the 5,000. She also finished 2nd in the 1,500.

Texas Relay Teams Showing Talent
• Texas advanced both women's relay squads and the men's 4x100 to the NCAA meet.
• The women are the defending champions in the 4x400 after setting an NCAA Championship meet record, and 3 of those 4 runners return this year.

Sprinters Run Deep at Texas
• Texas qualified for the NCAA meet in every sprint event but the men's 400m hurdles and men's 4x400.
• Freshmen Caitland Smith (200) and Ariel Jones (400mH) qualified in their first year as Longhorns and are eligible for the relay pools as well
• Senoj-Jay Givans is set to run the 100 and 200 in very competitive fields. He ranks No. 9 in the 100 and 18th in the 200. He broke his own school record in the 100 at the Big 12 meet, running 10.07 seconds. He has run a wind-aided 10.02 this year.
• Zack Bilderback hopes to reach the final of the 400 this year after finishing 12th in 2014.

Sategna, Buford-Bailey Recognized by Peers
• Head Coach Mario Sategna was named the USTFCCCA South Central Region Men's Head Coach of the Year. He saw his men dominate the Big 12 Championship and personally coached Johannes Hock and Wolf Mahler to a 1-2 finish in the decathlon.
• Associate Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey was named the USTFCCCA South Central Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year. She saw her sprinters and relay teams win every women's sprint event but the 100m hurdles at the Big 12 Championships.

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.