The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Tyson Invitational
Track & Field takes on Tyson Invitational, Husky Classic
02.09.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns compete at pair of top meets
Meet Info & Links
Tyson Invitational
Live Results | heat sheets | Twitter |
Live Video: Friday | Saturday (SEC Network+)
Husky Classic
Live Results | schedule | heat sheets | Twitter |
Live video ($) – via FloTrack
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track & Field splits up again for a pair of meets this weekend that have earned a reputation as two of the best each year for certain disciplines. The sprinters, hurlders and jumpers go to the Tyson Invitational hosted by Arkansas where the Longhorns will see the best of the best in those events. The pole vaulters, throwers and distance runners will compete at the Husky Classic, which will see the best distance runners in the nation duke it out on the track at Washington's Dempsey Center.
The Longhorns enter this week's action after seeing strong marks from the sprinters at the Husker Invitational while the throwers and vaulters posted a slew of personal bests in New Mexico. Texas hopes to build on those performances as the Big 12 Conference Championship approaches in two weeks.
Many of the sprint events at the Tyson Invitational will feature half of the top 16 runners in the nation. With only 16 individuals qualifying for NCAA Indoor Championships in each event, nearly every race in Arkansas can be viewed as a preview of the national championship meet.
Fans will be able to watch the action from both meets this weekend online with coverage at the Tyson Invitational provided by SEC Network+, which can be viewed online at espn3.com or on the WatchESPN app for smartphones and tablets. Live coverage of the Husky Classic will be provided by FloTrack for subscribers to the site's FloPro services.
Live results will again be provided at the Tyson Invitational by FlashResults.com for fans wanting to follow the action that way and links to live results from the Husky Classic will be at GoHuskies.com.
Fans can get updates on the Longhorns from both meets on the team's official Twitter account @UTexasTrack. Links to live results, heat sheets and live video will be posted prior to the start of each day's action as well.
Events to Watch
Tyson Invitational
• Women's 60m: Sophomore Teahna Daniels takes on some of the best sprinters in the NCAA this weekend. The 2016 NCAA champion will be in the field that could be a preview of the NCAA Championships in March with 6 of the top 8 times this year competing.
• Men's 60m: The men's 60m will also feature elite talent, including senior Senoj-Jay Givans. With 9 of the top 16 in the NCAA this season in the field, look for times at the Tyson Center to be fast. There are 7 runners in the field who have run 6.65 or faster in 2017.
• Men's 400m: Seniors Aldrich Bailey Jr. and Byron Robinson made their season debuts in this event last week and rank in the Top 12. This field will also be loaded with some of the best of the best with 4 of the top 10 and half of the fastest 16 in the NCAA this year.
• Women's 400m: Senior Chrisann Gordon and sophomore Zola Golden are in arguably the deepest women's running event at the Tyson Invitational with both ranking 14th or better. The field has 5 top 8 times from this season and 8 of the top 16.
• Women's 60m Hurdles: Freshmen Alexis Duncan made her debut as a Longhorn last week and will see some of the top hurdlers in the country this weekend. She ranks No. 22 in her event and junior Ariel Jones is No. 24 as the pair will face 4 of the top 10 runners in Arkansas.
• Men's Long Jump: Jumpers have thrived at Tyson Invitational in the past and this year's field for the long jump is stacked. With 4 of the top 8 jumpers in the nation, including No's. 1, 3, 4, it will be an exciting event to watch as No. 8 Steffin McCarter looks to improve on his season-best mark of 7.77m (25-6.00) for the Longhorns.
Husky Classic
• Men's & Women's 5000m: The Husky Classic has become a big meet for distance runners looking to qualify for NCAA Championships. With many of the top runners in the country yet to run the 5,000m many of them will take to the track this weekend attempting to post an eventual top 16 time to make the NCAA meet. Texas has seen success at this meet in the past. Craig Lutz broke the school record in the men's 5,000 at Husky in 2015. Senior Sandie Raines was less than half a second from breaking the women's record the same year.
Texas Track & Field Notebook
Longhorns Among NCAA Favorites
• Texas is among the elite programs in the NCAA again in 2017 and the women are eyeing their first NCAA indoor title since 2006 as they stand at No. 8 in the USTFCCCA Indoor Rankings heading into this weekend's action. The men's team is No. 15 in the rankings after finishing 5th at the NCAA Championship last year.
• Texas began the season with both teams in the Top 10. It was 1 of 7 schools to have its men's and women's teams ranked in the Top 10 in the preseason.
• The Big 12 Conference has 3 other men's team ranked in the Top 25: Texas Tech (12), Kansas (16), Oklahoma State (20).
• The Big 12 has 4 other women's teams ranked in the Top 25: Baylor (12), Kansas State (13), Oklahoma State (19), Oklahoma (25) .
• Last year at NCAA Indoors the women won 3 events with Teahna Daniels claiming the 60m with an American Junior record time of 7.11 seconds. She is back for her sophomore season. Courtney Okolo won the 400m and anchored the victorious 4x400m relay and has graduated, but half of the champion relay squad is back in 2017. For the men, Zack Bilderback became the first Longhorn to win the men's 400m, but the then-senior graduated. Ryan Crouser also won his fourth overall NCAA title in the shot put to close his collegiate career.
• The men finished the indoor season in fifth place at the NCAA Championships with 25 points.
• The women finished fourth at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a total of 44 points.
2017 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 gone on to win multiple Olympic medals. One Longhorn is on the February Watch List among those up for the award.
• Senior Byron Robinson won the 400m hurdles at the Big 12 Championship in May, posted the fastest time in the NCAA and ran for Team USA in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to help garner his spot on the list.
> Robinson ran No. 1 time in collegiate season last year in 49.10 seconds at the LSU Alumni Gold
> Claimed Big 12 Conference title in 49.39 seconds
> Ran personal best 48.79 to finish 2nd at U.S. Olympic Trials and qualify for Team USA
> Advanced through prelims at the Olympic Games with time of 48.98
> Improved his PR in the semifinals to 48.65 for the No. 8 time but missed advancing to the final by .01.
> During 2016 indoor season, Robinson broke the school record in the 600 yards to win the Big 12 Championship.
> His time of 1:07.99 also broke the Big 12 meet record.
Long Vaulting Among National Leaders
• Junior pole vaulter Kally Long opened the 2017 season with the best performance of her career, clearing a pair of personal records. It was the best jump in the NCAA to open the season and still ranks No. 3 so far in 2017.
• Long cleared 4.37m and 4.42m (14-6.00) to win the Texas A&M Team Invitational over Big 12 Outdoor champ and All-American Annie Rhodes of Baylor. Long cleared 5 of 6 bars on first attempts and cleared 4.42m on her second.
• Long cleared that height on a short approach. After the meet, she said she was only using an 8-step approach
• In her second competition of the season, Long dominated the field with a clearance of 4.35m (14-3.25) to win the Cherry & Silver Invitational by 10 inches. She had close misses at 4.45m.
• Long has continued her strong performances in 2017 with another mark of 4.42m at the New Mexico Classic. She had three attempts at 4.52m with a near make on her final try. She finished 4th in the competition behind a trio of post-collegiate and professional vaulters.
Poth Posts 3rd Personal Best
• Redshirt sophomore Barrett Poth is among the top pole vaulters in the NCAA this season and has performed consistently each meet.
• In 3 competitions, Poth has posted 3 personal bests and 2 victories.
• Poth opened 2017 with a win at the Texas A&M Invitational at 5.32m (17-5.50) for the win.
• He followed with a clearance of 5.35m (17-6.50) to finish 2nd at the Cherry & Silver Invitational.
• His last time out, Poth cleared 5.40m (17-8.50) to win again and rank 13th in the NCAA this year.
• He ranks 4th in school history as well.
Bailey Runs Away at Husker Invitational
• Senior Aldrich Bailey Jr. made his season debut in the 400 meters at the Husker Invitational last weekend with a victory. After running mostly relays in previous meets, Bailey crossed with a time of 46.38 seconds to win and rank No. 5 in the NCAA so far this season.
• Bailey backed that win up with another more dominant showing in the 200 meters. His time of 20.96 bested the field by .30 as he continues running fast this season.
Olympian Makes 2017 Debut
• After a long summer of competition and finishing 9th at the Olympic Games this summer in Rio in the 400m hurdles, senior Byron Robinson made his season debut for the Longhorns at the Husker Invitational.
• Robinson finished 2nd in the 400 meters behind teammate Aldrich Bailey Jr. with a time of 46.68 to rank 11th in the NCAA so far this season.
• Robinson also ran the opening leg of the 4x400m relay that finished 2nd behind Kansas by just .01.
Throwers Roll at New Mexico Classic
• Texas sent its throwers to the New Mexico Classic and came away with multiple personal records despite not winning any of the four events.
• Junior Lauryn Caldwell inched closer to the school record in the weight throw as she posted a personal record for the 2nd time this season and is now just 19 inches from breaking the school record as she finished 5th in the weight throw at New Mexico behind some of the top throwers in the nation.
• Junior Alan Zapalac also improved his PR in the weight throw with a runner-up finish at 20.55m (67-5.25). He also ranks No. 2 in school history.
• In the shot put, redshirt freshman David Rueff saw a dramatic improvement as he broke his previous PR by more than 5 feet to finish in eighth place. His mark also catapulted him into 8th on the Big 12 performance list this season and in position to potentially score at the conference championship meet in two weeks.
4x400m Relays Gaining Steam
• Texas ran a pair of strong relay teams at the Husker Invitational with the men's and women's teams ranking among the top in the NCAA this season.
• The women's team of Chrisann Gordon, Zola Golden, Ariel Jones and Serenity Douglas clocked in at 3:33.71 to win and set a new meet record at the 42nd Husker Invitational.
• The men ran Byron Robinson, Carlton Anumnu, Senoj-Jay Givans and Chris Irvin ran one of the most exciting races of the meet. The Longhorns finished second in 3:07.83, which would have been good for a new meet record, but Kansas out-leaned Irvin at the finish line by just .01.
• Irvin nearly caught the Jayhawks from behind running an impressive anchor leg in 46.3 seconds.
Players Mentioned
