Multi-Events set tone on Day 1 of Texas Relays

Wednesday, March 29

Austin, Texas

All Day

University of Texas

90th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, presented by Spectrum

03.29.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Wasik, Mahler, Patrick bring fire to decathlon

2017 Texas Relays Headquarters
Competitors
College/Invitational: Men | Women
High School: Boys | Girls

Complete Day 1 Results | Day 1 Photo Gallery
Multi-Events Spreadsheets: Decathlon | Heptathlon
Texas Post-Meet Notes

AUSTIN, Texas – The 90^th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, presented by Spectrum, got off to a great start for the Longhorns as the trio of Steele Wasik, Wolf Mahler and George Patrick put on a show during the first day of the decathlon on Wednesday.

The group of decathletes combined to tally a total of 15 personal records over the five events on Day 1 with the high jump being the highlight of the day.

Wasik was the first to get a PR of the three with a height of 2.00 meters (6-6.75) as he set a new PR twice during the competition from the higher pit. Mahler and Patrick were in the other pit and kept clearing bars to be some of the final competitors remaining.

Mahler cleared his first PR at 1.88 meters (6-2.00) and kept soaring from there. He registered three more personal bests to eventually clear 1.97 meters (6-5.50) for a total of four PR's in the high jump alone. Patrick showed his passion as a fiery competitor and clearly two new personal bests to also go over safely at 2.00 meters like Wasik.

The high jump raised the tone to another level for the Longhorns after they had already posted multiple PR's in the long jump and shot put.

After the 400 meters, Wasik found himself leading the trio of Longhorns with 4,054 points and standing in fourth place overall. Mahler and Patrick are right behind him in fifth and sixth place, respectively, with 4,041 points and 3,991 points.

"They're just competitors," said Head Coach Mario Sategna. "They step up and then you have a freshman in George Patrick. I think he lights a fire under them because anytime he gets a great performance, they respond because they don't want to lose to a freshman."

The three have done some great things throughout the year working together.

Also competing on Day 1 of the Texas Relays, presented by Spectrum, for the Longhorns was Virginia Preiss in the heptathlon.

This was her first-ever heptathlon after Sategna and Assistant Coach Seth Henson have worked with Preiss to convert her into a multi-event athlete over the last year-and-a-half.

Preiss registered two new personal bests to open and close her day with her best performances. She finished the four events on Day 1 with a total of 2,751 points and sits in 24^th place.

This meet annually plays a big role in the NCAA Championships with some of the top heptathletes and decathletes coming to compete. With those events not using the regional qualifying meets to advance to the national meet, but the descending order list, the Texas Relays becomes a chance for athletes to post big scores that will hopefully rank in the top 24 after the season.

"Unlike a lot of the other events it's important at the Relays that we come out of here, number one healthy, but at the same time this is a great opportunity for them to put up a qualifying score for them to make it to the national championship," Sategna said. "When you look traditionally at Texas Relays in the heptathlon for the women and the decathlon, the majority of NCAA qualifying scores come out of this meet. So when we have three guys vying for those spots bodes well for us this year there's no doubt."

Texas returns to action at 10 a.m. Thursday for the conclusion of the multi-events. Some collegiate field events begin at 11 a.m. The first running event prelims take off at 4:30 p.m. with the 400 meter hurdles. The evening running events session starts at 7 p.m. and will feature legendary Longhorn Leo Manzano in the invitational 800 meters right out of the gates to start the session. The evening will also include the 1,500, the steeplechase and 5,000 meters.

Coach Talk

Head Coach Mario Sategna
On the decathletes setting the tone: Anytime our multi-eventers, whether it's at a national or conference meet, they're the first up, and definitely set the tone for the rest of the team. We knew for Wolf and for Steele who made it to the national meet a few weeks ago we didn't have a whole lot of time to go back and get some training in.

Assistant Coach Seth Henson – Jumps/Multi-Events
On the decathletes: Those were great, solid performances, but we did leave some points out there. We learned a little bit about meet management and adjustments. It was great, but we did leave a few points on the board. But that's the way that the multis go.

On what clicked in the high jump: I think they really set the tone early with their approach and were able to make adjustments with Coach Sategna and I and add energy. They were confident in what they were doing and were able to give a little bit more effort as the bar started to go up.

On what he saw in Virginia Preiss' debut in the heptathlon: Composure, confidence and having fun. It was great for her to win her heat in the hurdles. That's a good confidence booster for her, and she's only going to get better. She's very coachable. Today was about her enjoying track and field and staying composed through all four events and she absolutely was able to do that.