The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Multi-event entries announced for 89th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays
03.16.2016 | Texas Relays, Track & Field / Cross Country
Heptathlon and decathlon featured during first two days of meet
Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays: Schedule | Tickets | Entry Information
Meet Qualifiers: Decathlon | Heptathlon
AUSTIN, Texas – With the 89th running of the Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays just two weeks away, the first qualifiers are now being unveiled. The meet is schedule for Wednesday, March 30 through Saturday, April 2 from Mike A. Myers Stadium. Meet Director James Barr announced the accepted entries for the University/College decathlon and heptathlon fields on Wednesday.
Both multi-events feature deep fields with the heptathlon having last year's Texas Relays champion and four women who competed at last weekend's NCAA Indoor Championships, while the decathlon has an Olympian and four indoor All-Americans in the heptathlon.
Three current Longhorns and one Olympian with ties to the Texas program will compete in the multi-events over the first two days of the meet. Redshirt freshman Reese Thompson will take on the field in the decathlon along with 2012 Olympian Ingmar Vos from the Netherlands. He trains with Texas Head Coach Mario Sategna. For the women, junior Sierra Patrick and sophomore Ashtin Zamzow will compete in the heptathlon.
The heptathlon features three women who earned USTFCCCA All-America Second Team honors last year at the NCAA Championships. Defending Texas Relays champion Alex Gochenour of Arkansas leads the way. Last year she scored more than 6,000 points to get the win over the field with a total of 6,027. Gochenour also finished ninth at the NCAA Championships in the heptathlon last year. Another Arkansas Razorback is set to go in Taliyah Brooks. She finished fourth at the Relays last year and was 16th at the NCAA meet. Florida State's Grete Saideko was 15th at the NCAA Championships. Four women competing in the heptathlon for Arkansas all finished sixth or better at the Texas Relays last year, including Leigha Brown and Peyton Stumbaugh.
That group of Razorbacks also all just finished in the top nine in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships: Brooks (2nd), Stumbaugh (5th), Gochenour (6th) and Brown (9th). Other indoor All-American competing in the heptathlon are Jaclyn Siefring (Akron, 10th place), Breanne Borman (Wichita State, 12th place) and Paige Knodle (Northern Iowa, 13th place).
In addition to Vos in the decathlon, last year's Texas Relays runner-up Harrison Williams highlights the field. Williams was just 39 points behind the winner and would close his 2015 season by finishing fourth at the NCAA Championships. He also just finished fourth in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships last year. Williams had an impressive freshman year as he also won gold in the decathlon at the Pan Am Junior Championships. One second-team All-Americans from last year in the event is also in the field in Mississippi State's Zach Taylor. Akron's Alex McCune also had second-team All-American performance last week in the heptathlon. Division II star Cody Thomas looks to ride the momentum of his third-place finish at the NCAA Division II Championships last week in the heptathlon.
Longhorn Network will provide coverage of the meet with the multi-events featured the first two days.
Important Upcoming Dates (All times Central):
• Monday, March 21: High School Online entry page closes (noon)
• Tuesday, March 22: University/College/Invitational Online entry page closes (noon)
• Thursday, March 24: List of High School/ University/College/Invitational Relays qualifiers released (10 p.m.) on TexasSports.com
• Thursday, March 24: Online declaration process opens for University/College/Post-Collegiate relays qualifiers at directathletics.com (10 p.m.)
• Monday, March 28: Online declaration closes (noon)
• Tuesday, March 29: Final Texas Relays competitors posted on TexasSports.com (noon)
• Wednesday, March 30: 89th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays begin
Players Mentioned
