The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Longhorns qualify two for World Junior Championships
06.25.2016 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Texas shines on Day 1 of USATJ Junior Championships
USATF Junior Championships
Live Results | Live Webcast | Schedule
CLOVIS, Calif. – On the first day of USATF Junior Championships, Texas Track & Field had a great showing as one current and one future Longhorn won their events and earned a spot on Team USA for the IAAF World Junior Championships later this summer.
Freshman Alex Rogers crushed his previous best time in the 3,000 meter steeplechase as he grabbed the victory in 8:56.03. That time is 14 seconds faster than his best this season at the Texas Invitational.
"It was a good time to PR, coming out with a good competition. I was excited to come out here and represent Texas. It was a great opportunity to come out and run. I knew it was going to be fast and I had to focus on the last 1,500 meters. When the last 400 came up, I knew I had to kick to win."
And kick Rogers did. He ran with the pack throughout much of the competition and then picked up the pace to leave the others behind on his way to victory.
"Alex did a really nice job of competing for his first USA national title," said Assistant Coach Brad Herbster. "This being on his second steeplechase we knew the field had four guys who had hit the IAAF standard in that event and it would be a good race. Alex was patient throughout the race and moved with confidence when he needed. Going to Poland will be a great experience for him to race against the best juniors in the world."
For the women, incoming freshman Elena Bruckner proved why she is the No. 1 recruit in the nation in the throws as she dominated the field to win the discus. Her throw of 54.81 meters (179-10) would be good enough to break the school record at Texas, set in 1981 by Laura Messner.
Bruckner took the lead immediately in the competition and never relinquished it. Five of her six throws were more than 50 meters with three sailing more than 53 meters. Her winning distance of 54.81 meters also would have been good enough to finish eighth at this year's NCAA Championships.
"It was exciting to see Elena take control of the competition on her first throw and never lose the lead," said Texas Assistant Coach Ty Sevin. "Competing in Poland later this summer will definitely be an experience that will help her grown as an athlete. The great news is she's not done yet and has the opportunity to make it a double championship for her in the shot put on Sunday."
Earlier this week, Bruckner was named the Gatorade Girls Track & Field Athlete of the Year for her home state of California, adding to her awards this year.
Texas had a handful of others in action on the first day at USA Juniors and had strong showings there as well.
John Burt ran 13.46 seconds in his preliminary heat of the 110 meter hurdles to advance to the final later Friday night. He crossed the finish line in seventh place during the final with a time of 13.89 seconds. His times will not count toward UT's record keeping as the juniors (Under20) competition uses 39-inch hurdles versus the 42's used in NCAA competition. The school record is 13.44 seconds for comparison.
Another freshman Longhorn who performed well was long jumper Steffin McCarter. He leapt an impressive 7.63 meters (25-0.50) to finish in fifth place. It marked McCarter's fifth time this year surpassing 25 feet outdoors.
For the women, Teahna Daniels narrowly missed advancing to the final in the 100 meters. She crossed the line in 10.61 seconds to finish ninth. The timers had to break times down to the thousandth of a second to see who would take eighth and move on to the final. Western Kentucky's Jadzia Beasley out-leaned Daniels at the line in their heat to clock 10.603 while Daniels was 10.610.
One other freshman Longhorn was in action on Friday night in California as Sydne Fowler claimed 12th in the 400 meter hurdles.
Action will continue for Texas at the USATF Junior Championships on Saturday and Sunday. The Longhorns have a total of 10 current and future student-athletes at the meet. The remaining action will all be on the women's side with sprinters, hurdlers, distance runners, jumpers and Buckner in the shot put.
Fans can keep up with the action online with live results provided by USATF.org. A live stream of the meet is also available for subscribers to the USATF.TV+PLUS service. Action begins at 5:15 p.m. CT with the first Longhorn event slated for 6:55.
Players Mentioned
