The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Conference Outdoor Championships
Track & Field eyes 3-peat at Big 12 Championship
05.10.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorn Men, Women set to take on conference rivals in Kansas
Big 12 Championship
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Texas Meet Notes
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track & Field has swept the Big 12 Outdoor Championship the last two years, and the Longhorns begin their quest for a three-peat on Friday. This year's conference championship meet is set to run Friday through Sunday from Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kansas.
This year's Big 12 Championship will again feature some of the top teams in the nation with four men's teams ranked in the Top 15 by the USTFCCCA and three women's teams ranked No. 12 or better. Texas comes in as the only Big 12 school with both teams ranked in the Top 10. The conference also boasts some of the elite individuals in the nation with 25 individuals ranking in the top 5 in the NCAA this season in their respective events, including four holding the No. 1 mark of the outdoor season.
Texas claims a pair of those No. 1 rankings with senior Chrisann Gordon in the 400 meters and freshman Rushelle Burton in the 100 meter hurdles. They hope to help lead the women's team to its fourth consecutive Big 12 championship while the men eye their third straight.
"We have a lot of veterans returning from last year's squad, but at the same time, anytime you win a team championship, it's going to take a complete team," said Head Coach Mario Sategna. "We have some youngsters that I think had a great learning experience for them at the indoor conference meet. For the outdoor, as long as we go out there and do the things we've been doing this entire outdoor season we're going to be in good shape."
The Texas men rank No. 10 in the nation heading into the meet and will see strong competition from fellow ranked teams in No. 3 Texas Tech, No. 13 Baylor, No. 14 Kansas and No. 24 Oklahoma State. The Longhorn women stand at No. 9 and will get their toughest push from Big 12 indoor champion Baylor, ranked No. 11, and No. 12 Kansas State.
Action is set to start from Rock Chalk Park at 11 a.m. Friday with the decathlon and heptathlon opening the meet. Friday will also see finals for the hammer throw and javelin, with the only running event on Day 1 being the 10,000 meters to close the evening. Combined Events are slated to begin Day 2 at 10 a.m. Saturday, and field event finals scheduled are men's and women's long jump and shot put along with men's high jump and women's pole vault. Running event prelims start at 4 p.m. Saturday and close with the final of the 3,000 meter steeplechase. Sunday's final day of competition starts at 2:30 p.m. with the remaining six field events. Running events fire off at 5 p.m.
A win by the Texas women would be their fourth straight and give them every Big 12 outdoor title since Coach Sategna took over the combined program. Both the men and women have finished no worse than second place each of the last five years.
Fans can keep up with the action at the Big 12 Championship with live results provided online by DeltaTiming.com. A link will be provided at TexasSports, Big12sports.com and KUAthletics.com. Updates on the Longhorns will also be available on the team's official Twitter account @TexasTFXC. The Big 12 also will be tweeting from its official account @Big12Conference. Fans are encouraged to follow and interact with the meet by using the official hashtag #Big12TF throughout the three days of competition.
Fans can also watch the meet live on FloTrack.org. The track & field website will be streaming all three days of the meet from Rock Chalk Park for fans with a subscription to its FloPro services.
Events to Watch
• Women's 400m: Texas has dominated this event with 10 wins in the Big 12's history. No other team has more than 4. Senior Chrisann Gordon and sophomore Zola Golden currently rank 1-2 in the conference and 1-8 in the NCAA this season. They will look to keep the team's run of 3 consecutive 400m titles going.
• Men's 200m: Senior Aldrich Bailey Jr. ran a wind-aided 19.99 his last time on the track in the 200m. He is the defending champion in this event and was last year's Big 12 High Point Scorer at this meet. There have been 4 back-to-back winners of that award.
• Men's Pole Vault: A battle between Texas and Kansas to see who is best in Big 12 history awaits this event. Both teams have had 5 champions in Men's Pole Vault, and the Top 5 ranked vaulters in the conference are Longhorns and Jayhawks.
• Women's 100m/200m: Texas has won these sprint events for 3 straight years. Sophomore Teahna Daniels hopes to keep that streak alive. She currently ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 in the 100m and is No. 3 in the 200m.
• Men's Decathlon: Texas has seen great success in this event over the years. With senior Wolf Mahler solidly qualified for the NCAA Championships at No. 7 in the nation, can junior Steele Wasik and freshman George Patrick post scores to qualify as well and give the Longhorns a trio in the event at Hayward Field in June?
• Women's 400m Hurdles: Junior Ariel Jones goes for her 3rd consecutive win in this event. Texas has dominated this event with 12 total wins in 20 years. Only Texas legend Raasin McIntosh has won this event 3 times in their career.
• Women's Javelin: Junior Haley Crouser currently ranks No. 1 in the Big 12 in an event the Longhorns have never won a Big 12 women's title in.
• Women's 5000m: Senior Sandie Raines is the back-to-back defending champion in this event. She looks to become the first woman in Big 12 history to win 3 titles in the 5000m. She will face strong competition in elite runners from Baylor, Kansas and TCU.
• Men's 4x400m Relay: With a tight team battle expected on the men's side for the team title, it could come down to the final event to crown a champion. The Longhorns, Texas Tech and Baylor all rank among the nation's best this season, and Texas has never won a Big 12 title in the men's 4x400m.
• Men's 100m: Senior Senoj-Jay Givans looks to close his career with his first Big 12 title in this event. He ran sub-10 last year at the NCAA Championships and has proven to be the top sprinter in the conference indoors with 3 titles in the 60m.
• Men's 400m Hurdles: Senior Byron Robinson finished 9th at the 2016 Olympics in this event and is the defending Big 12 champion.
Texas Track & Field Notebook
Sategna Named Team USA Head Coach
• Texas Head Coach Mario Sategna will wear red, white and blue this summer as he will serve Team USA as the men's head coach at the IAAF World Championships in London.
• This marks Sategna's first time to be named a head coach for Team USA by the USATF for a major championship meet.
• He was a member of Team USA's coaching staff at the 2016 Rio Olympics as the men's assistant coach for throws.
32 Longhorns Earn Academic All-Big 12
• Texas Track & Field had an impressive 32 student-athletes recognized for their work in the classroom and on the track as members of the Academic All-Big 12 Team.
• 27 of those Longhorns were selected as members of the first team with a GPA of 3.20 or higher.
• Carlton Anumnu, Charles Anumnu, Parks McNeil, Mary Beth Hamilton and Hannah Grubb all were recognized as first-team members for a third consecutive year.
• With 14 men on the first team, it sets a new program record and leads the Big 12 for a third straight year.
Bailey Breaks 20-Second Barrier
• Senior Aldrich Bailey Jr. ran sub-20 for the first time of his career in the 200 meters to win the Longhorn Invitational.
• Bailey clocked a wind-aided 19.99 seconds to defeat a field full of professional and post-collegiate athletes.
• His time is not eligible for post-season qualifying as it was clocked with a 4.3 meters/second tailwind, surpassing the allowable 4.0 m/s.
• Bailey also won the 400m at the Longhorn Invitational.
Peterson Wins Again
• Redshirt sophomore Brian Peterson registered his third win of the season in the discus while setting another personal record in the process at the Longhorn Invitational.
• Peterson threw the disc 56.51 meters (185-4) to grab the victory. It also moved him up to No. 3 in the Big 12 Conference rankings heading into the conference championship meet.
• Junior Alan Zapalac also posted a PR in the discus of 54.22m (177-11). He is now 4th in the Big 12.
High Jumpers Fly at Longhorn Invitational
• Redshirt junior Spencer McCloud tied his personal best to win the home finale for Texas, clearing 2.14m (7-0.25)
• His mark puts him in the Top 5 of the Big 12 this season heading into the conference championship.
• Senior Mawi Berkhadley had her best performance as a Longhorn, nearly tying her PR in the high jump with a clearance of 1.70m (5-7.00), just 1 cm shy of her personal best.
• She cleared 4 bars, all on first attempts, to move into 5th on the Big 12 list this season.
Throwers Take Momentum info Big 12's
• Freshman Elena Bruckner got another win in the shot put at the Longhorn Invitational to close the regular season.
• Bruckner posted a new PR of 16.67m (54-8.25) to move to No. 2 in the Big 12 while defeating the No. 14-ranked thrower in the nation.
• Junior Haley Crouser continued her dominance in the javelin with a win at 50.51m (165-8).
• She currently leads the conference in the event and looks to win the first Big 12 title in women's javelin for Texas.
• Junior Lauryn Caldwell also posted a personal best in the shot put.
• She finished 4th with her mark of 15.28m (50-1.75)
• Bruckner and Caldwell are both threats to score in 3 different throwing events. They each rank No. 9 or better in the shot put, discus and hammer throw.
Distance Runners Grab Wins to Close Regular Season
• Freshman Destiny Collins got the first win of her collegiate career at the Longhorn Invitational.
• In windy conditions she crossed first in the 3000m
• Sophomore Charles Mills got a win for the men in the 1,500 meters with a time of 3:56.57 facing those stiff winds.
Lloyd Breaks School Record
• Sophomore Meghan Lloyd broke her first school record as she became the fastest Longhorn in the steeplechase at the Cardinal Classic, clocking in at 10:20.37.
• Lloyd bests the previous school record of 10:26.90 set by Brittany Marches in 2014, also set at a meet hosted by Stanford.
• Lloyd shattered the previous record by more than six seconds and is now the Big 12 leader in the event this season.
Gordon, Robinson Sweep Big 12 Awards
• Texas claimed both the men's and women's Big 12 Track & Field Athlete of the Week awards on Wednesday as the conference announced Chrisann Gordon and Byron Robinson as this week's winners.
• Gordon, a senior from Jamaica, threw down the fastest time in the nation last weekend to win the 400 meters at the LSU Alumni Gold. Her time of 50.64 seconds establishes her as the No. 1 runner in the NCAA with just a few weeks left in the regular season. With that time, Gordon shattered her previous personal best by nearly half a second and she is now the No. 4 performer in school history.
• Gordon's time also puts her at No. 3 on the world list so far in 2017 and she is .34 of a second ahead of No. 2 on the NCAA list.
• Robinson ran his fastest time of the season in the 400 meter hurdles at the LSU Alumni Gold, clocking in at 49.55 seconds. He finished second behind a post-collegiate runner and now stands at No. 2 on the NCAA descending order list.
• His time was not far off his mark from a year ago when he ran the No. 1 time in the NCAA all season in 2016 at the LSU meet. Robinson also ran the anchor leg of the winning 4x400m relay that finished in 3:05.59. That time puts the Longhorns at No. 12 in the NCAA so far this season.
Texas Quotes
Head Coach Mario Sategna
On the teams' strengths: I think on the men's side I really look to Senoj-Jay Givans, Byron Robinson and AJ Bailey. They're going to have to come up big if we're going to have a chance. It's not to take away from anybody else, but when you look at Senoj-Jay and AJ, here are guys where they're not just going to double but they are going to triple, if not quadruple in events with both relays. We need a big push from them. On the women's side who better than Chrisann Gordon to lead the charge? She is going to do some great things. I'm excited because we do have veteran leadership for both the men and women.
On the motivation the women will have after losing Big 12 Indoors: Nobody wants to be the first team to give up that title because when you look back at the dynamics of some of the team members, whether they were Olympians or All Americans or NCAA champions, there were some great people. That's why we don't try to harp on that. Right now nobody is going to remember what you did at the Texas relays. They are going to remember what you did at the Big 12 Championship. So for some, even if it has been a topsy-turvy type year, this is a great starting point.
Senior Chrisann Gordon
On how the season has gone so far: I think that I'm having the best season I've ever had. I'm running personal best times and I think that's very good. I think that 2017's the year when I'm going to run really well once I'm injury free.
On the team heading into the conference championship: Things are looking good from the past couple of weeks and we all look ready. We are ready. We are excited to run and score as many points for the team as possible and take home titles.
On excitement for Big 12 outdoor meet: I am excited because it's my last year. I want to give it my all for Texas. That's why I'm excited, it's my last year. I'm excited to graduate but sad to leave too because I really love my teammates and we're a really close family and I'm going to miss them a lot.
Junior Steele Wasik
On the decathlon at the conference championship: I think this weekend is really exciting for everyone, especially the multis because we went one, two, and three at indoor conference. It's going to be a big meet for us. George [Patrick] and I didn't get national qualifiers yet so we're going to be looking for big scores. It's going to be good conditions. It's a great facility so we're going to go out there and have some fun.
On how his outdoor season has gone: It has had some ups and downs, but its coming back really strong right now. Last meet I set three personal bests in three open events. I think it's all coming together now. This is when you want it to happen; not in the fall but towards June.
Freshman George Patrick
On Big 12 Championship meet: We're excited. It's going to be a tight one for sure, but we all know it's going to be like that and we all are gamers here. We're going to go in there and do something really special this year. I'm positive about that.
On team confidence heading into the meet: We are not a team that has lucky meets. We consistently do well every meet. If we can go out there and avoid any disasters, then we're going to be fine.
Players Mentioned
