The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Drake Relays
Women's Track & Field wins Hy-Vee Cup at Drake Relays
04.30.2016 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns brave poor conditions to dominate prestigious meet
Complete Results | Texas Post-Meet Notes
DES MOINES, Iowa – Texas Track & Field braved the cold, rainy weather at the 107th Drake Relays presented by Hy-Vee and came away with a handful of victories, including the biggest trophy of them all. The women's team finished in a tie in the Hy-Vee Cup standings with Baylor to share the title this year.
The 4x100, 4x400, 4x800, Distance Medley and Sprint Medley Relays all were scored like a championship meet to award points for the Hy-Vee Cup. The Texas women and Baylor both scored 26 points to be the 2016 co-champions.
Texas opened the day on the track with the women's group of Ariel Jones, Ashley Miller, Miriam Abdul-Rashid and Gabby Crank joining forces to finish second in the sprint medley relay. They completed the race with a time of 3:55.05. That finish earned them eight points toward the Hy-Vee Cup standings and positioned the Longhorns in a spot to contend for the title as the best relays group at the meet.
After not scoring points in the distance medley and finishing in 12th place it was up to the 4x100 and 4x400 to close the meet strong for the Longhorns.
Texas made it a clean sweep in the 4x100 with the women's squad of Caitland Smith, Courtney Okolo, Zola Golden and Morolake Akinosun combining to win in 44.47 seconds.
The men followed that with a victory of their own with Charles Anumnu, Carlton Anumnu, Zack Bilderback and Aldrich Bailey Jr. running 40-flat to win easily.
It was an impressive day for the men's relays with Texas also claiming the title in the 4x400 relay. Carlton Anumnu, Bailey, Chris Irvin and Bilderback pulled away from Big 12 Conference rival Baylor to win in 3:05.51.
Texas and Baylor were the clear favorites early on in the race and remained close after the first leg. Then, Bailey slowly began to extend their lead. Irvin was able to hold off a charge by the Bears and handed to Bilderback with a lead of approximately four steps. Bilderback immediately pulled away and left no doubt the Longhorns would pull the 4x100/4x400 double.
With the two wins, the men's squad finished second in the Hy-Vee Cup standings despite only being entered in two of the five races. Illinois won the men's Hy-Vee Cup with 24 points, compared to the 20 for the Longhorns.
The women's Hy-Vee Cup would come down to the final event.
Baylor held the lead entering the 4x400 relay with 24 points. Texas had 18 points. A win by the Longhorns and a finish of sixth or worse for the Lady Bears would mean an overall Texas victory, or a second-place finish for Texas with Baylor getting eighth. However, the Longhorns finished second to earn eight points. Baylor then finished seventh to score two points, resulting in the tie.
The tandem of Golden, Akinosun, Melissa Gonzalez and Okolo ran 3:34.11. Akinosun helped move the Longhorns into contention on the second leg and Gonzalez handed the baton to Okolo about 20 meters behind the leader. Okolo began her signature kick with about 200 meters to go and nearly caught Ohio State's anchor leg in a dramatic finish.
Victories did not only come for the Longhorns in the relay events.
Sophomore Caitland Smith grabbed a victory in the 100 meters. She ran her fastest time of the season despite the rain and clocked in at 10.55 seconds. That time moves her into ninth in the Big 12 Conference this year and in position to help the Longhorns possibly score three runners in the event at the conference championship meet in two weeks. For the men, Charles Anumnu finished fifth with a wind-aided time of 10.53 seconds.
The duo of Ariel Jones and BJ Adeokun reached the final in the 100 meter hurdles. Jones came away with a third-place finish as she crossed in 13.51 seconds behind Michigan's Cindy Ofili and TCU's Brianna McGhee.
Texas got strong runs from two of its mid-distance runners in the rain as well. Robert Uhr took silver in the men's 800 meters, clocking 1:51.25. Derrell Manhertz finished fourth with a time of 1:52.42.
Texas heads home to host the Longhorn Invitational next weekend. Action begins at 9 a.m. Saturday from Mike A. Myers Stadium. Admission to the meet is free.
Players Mentioned
