Track & Field grabs early points at Big 12 Championships

Friday, May 13

Fort Worth, Texas

9:00 a.m.

University of Texas

Big 12 Conference Outdoor Championships

Photo by: Brendan Maloney

Track & Field grabs early points at Big 12 Championships

05.13.2016 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Pole Vaulters shine for men's team on Day One in Fort Worth

Friday Results | Texas Post-Meet Notes

FORT WORTH, Texas – Day One of the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championship saw the Texas Longhorns score some valuable points in the men's field events and in the women's 10,000 meters. Texas grabbed a handful of points in the men's pole vault while junior Sandie Raines continued to grind and show up big for the women in the distance events.

Texas had three men stand on the podium following the pole vault as Barrett Poth, Reese Watson and Nick Meaders combined for 12 points.

Raines finished second in the 10,000 meters with a time of 35:04.51 to tack on eight points for the women's tally on Day One. It adds to Raines' impressive Big 12 résumé after she won the 5,000 and finished second in the 1,500 last year.

"You can't say enough about her at the conference meets. She just steps up and helps," said Head Coach Mario Sategna. "Those are going to be huge points going into, not just Day Two, but some of the things we will be able to do with our national qualifiers it gives us a lot of leeway on the women's side with a performance like that."

Texas scored four points in men's throwing events on Friday with Alan Zapalac and Conrad Ramquist finishing seventh in their respective events, scoring two points each.

The combined events got underway as well with the Longhorns looking to win another title in the decathlon and its first ever Big 12 title in the heptathlon. Both Reese Thompson and Ashtin Zamzow have positioned themselves well heading into the final day of their events.

"All in all it was a great start on Day One. Tomorrow's a big day as we finish up the decathlon and heptathlon," Sategna said. "Then it's all about making the finals for everybody in the prelims. We're trying to get as many people to the final on Sunday."

Action begins at 10 a.m. Saturday for Day Two of the Big 12 Conference Championship from Lowdon Track & Field Complex with the conclusion of the heptathlon and decathlon. The Longhorns will look to capitalize on its depth in the women's pole vault to grab a bunch of points while preliminary heats for running events start at 5:30 p.m.

Fans can follow along with live results provided by DeltaTiming.com. Updates on the Longhorns will be on the team's official Twitter account @UTexasTrack. Fans also are encouraged to follow and interact with the meet by using the official meet hashtag #Big12TF.

Men's Vaulters Score Big for Texas
Senior Reese Watson was unable to successfully defend his title in the men's pole vault on Friday, but he did join up with two of his teammates to score 12 valuable points in the men's title race.

Watson finished fourth to score five points as he cleared a season-high 5.35 meters (17-6.50). Redshirt freshman Barrett Poth continued his strong late-season performances as he also cleared 5.35 meters to finish third as he cleared on his first attempt compared to Watson's second. Poth's mark also was a new personal record.

Finishing in eighth for the men was redshirt freshman Nick Meaders. He sailed over the bar safely at 5.20 meters (17-0.50) on his second attempt. Freshman Blake Scott just missed out on scoring points for the Longhorns after clearing 5.05 meters on his third attempt to finish 11^th.

"The pole vault in the Big 12 has historically been one of the best events. We knew we were going to have to fight for every point and we had three guys that scored," Sategna said.

Thompson, Zamzow in Contention for Combined Events
Texas has long been a force in the men's combined events with the Longhorns winning a six Big 12 Conference decathlon titles. Reese Thompson has positioned himself well after the first day of the decathlon with 3,573 points to stand in fourth place.

For the women, Ashtin Zamzow looks to become the first Longhorn to win a Big 12 title in the heptathlon. She tallied 3,117 points over the first four of seven events on Friday to make herself a threat as well.

Thompson registered personal bests in two of the five events and was only one centimeter off another in the shot put. He began his day with a new PR in the 100 meters, clocking in at 10.90 seconds to finish second in the event. He then finished third in the long jump to stand in second through the first two events.

Zamzow hovered around fourth place all day finishing fourth in two of the events and third in another. She trails the leader by 189 points and is only 102 points out of second.

"Reese fought hard today and with the hurdles and vault tomorrow he has a better Day Two coming for him," Sategna said. "Ashtin did what she could and knows this is important for team scoring and also using this as a tune up for the national championship."

Throwers Score Early Points for Longhorns
Sophomore Alan Zapalac grabbed the first points of the meet for the Longhorns by finishing in seventh place in the men's hammer throw. He posted a mark of 58.51 meters (191-11) on his final throw for a slight improvement from his mark in the prelims. That improvement was not enough to climb the standings, however, as he was just under two feet from placing sixth.

For the women, redshirt freshman Lauryn Caldwell finished 12^th in the hammer throw. She tallied a mark of 48.81 meters (160-2) and could not repeat her school-record performance from last week. The competition was stiff in the event this year with the top four finishers throwing more than 61 meters.

In the evening, walk-on senior Conrad Ramquist earned two points and a letter in his only season with the Longhorns. He finished seventh in the javelin with a mark of 58.42 meters (191-8) and trailed sixth by only two feet and five inches in his first Big 12 Conference Championship experience.

Distance Runners Close Day One
Texas ended the night with a 10^th-place finish in the men's 10,000 meters as Connor Hendrickson clocked in at 31:45.77. He led through the first half of the race before falling back to allow other runners lead the pack and draft off of them.

After Hendrickson and Kroon fell back, the pace quickened slightly as the tactical race continued to play out. Eventually, Oklahoma State's Cerake Geberkidane left the field behind for the win as the lead pack began to spread over the final mile of the race. Hendrickson could not catch up with the eighth-place runner before finishing 10^th.