The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Conference Outdoor Championships
Wasik wins Big 12 Decathlon title
05.13.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns roll in prelims to set tone for final day of conference championship
Big 12 Championship
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Complete Day 2 Results | Texas Post-Meet Notes
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Day 2 of the Big 12 Outdoor Track & Field Championship started with Steele Wasik claiming the title in the decathlon to make an indoor/outdoor sweep for him in the multi-events as he helped continue the legacy of the Texas Longhorns in the event.
It ended with the Longhorns dominating the running preliminaries advancing 83-percent of their women and 68-percent of their men. With more entries in the finals, Texas is poised to score in bunches on Sunday as the men and women both fight for a conference title.
Wasik's win is the sixth for Texas in the decathlon at the Big 12 Championship, more than any other school. His point total of 7,715 over the 10 events and two days also secures a spot for him at the NCAA Championship in June as it ranks No. 11 this season. Wasik also ranks as the No. 9 performer in school history.
"It was great to see Steele get through with a qualifying score for nationals, winning the conference and even coming back and making the hurdle final," said Head Coach Mario Sategna. "We knew that without George Patrick and Wolf Mahler that we were going to have to make up some points and he came through in a big way."
Wasik said he was happy to get the win for Texas and to stamp his ticket to Eugene where he and teammate Wolf Mahler will join forces at the national meet.
"I'm excited overall for the team because we need the points to win the championship. And that's what it's all about," Wasik said. "It's important for me, to come out after no-heighting at the Texas Relays to get a national mark and to win as the defending indoor champion. It was tough but it means a lot."
Wasik held a strong lead after the first day of action and continued to build on that advantage by winning the first two events on Saturday. His point total was a facility record at Rock Chalk Park, breaking the previous mark by 388 points.
Virginia Preiss completed her first Big 12 Championship in the heptathlon with an 11th-place finish. She scored a new personal best 4,588 points over the seven events to just miss cracking the top 10 list in school history.
She finished the competition with a new personal best in the 800 meters as she PR'd in three of the total events.
When the running event preliminaries began during the afternoon on Saturday, the Longhorns took care of business advancing 15 runners through to finals on the women's side and another 16 for the men.
Senior Sandie Raines and freshman Destiny Collins immediately set the tone for Texas by advancing in the 1,500 meters. Sophomore Alex Rogers followed by running the top time in the men's prelims, clocking 3:49.84.
Texas dominated the hurdle events on Saturday with the women moving four runners through to the final of the 100 meter hurdles while the men saw three advance in the 110 meter hurdles.
The times were all wind-aided in the short hurdle race but were impressive nonetheless.
Freshman Rushelle Burton clocked 13.04 and junior Ariel Jones posted 13.08 to rank 1-2 in the 100 hurdles. Spencer Dunkerley-Offor ran a wind-aided 13.64 to lead the way as the No. 1 time. Sophomore John Burt clocked 13.90 in the same heat to rank third overall, and Wasik ran 14.19 to also advance as the No. 5 seed in the final.
The sprinters kept the trend going by qualifying for the finals in bunches.
The women went 3-for-3 in advancing in the 400 meters, led by senior Chrisann Gordon with the No. 1 time on the day. The men advanced two of their four runners. Sophomore Teahna Daniels was the only female entered in the 100 meters for Texas and she advanced.
Texas advanced all three men through the prelims of the 100. Senior Senoj-Jay Givans won his heat in 10.13 seconds and pulled along teammates Charles Anumnu and Chris Ntreh with him as they grabbed the only two at-large bids to the final based on time.
The men then advanced five of six runners through to the final in the 200, ensuring lots of burnt orange will be on the track Sunday.
Qualifiers kept coming in the distance events for the women with sophomore Gabby Crank grabbing the final at-large spot in the 800 meters. She clocked in at 2:10.60 to tie
Field events were not to be outdone by the runners in prelims.
The trio of O'Brien Wasome, George Patrick and Ika Morton combined to score 15 points for the men in the long jump. Wasome needed only one jump to finish in second place, as he was preserving energy for the triple jump competition on Sunday. Patrick came back to finish third after fouling all three of his attempts in the long jump during the decathlon on Friday. Morton posted a lifetime best performance to take eighth place and help the men make a huge point grab in the event and set the tone for the rest of the meet.
"That was big. Mario and I both knew Ika had been having some great practices and we knew those three guys had the potential to get out there and score points today," said Assistant Coach Seth Henson. "They competed with heart. They fought for every inch and it was fun to watch and be a part of."
Also scoring big for the men in a field event was redshirt junior Spencer McCloud. He finished in a tie for fourth place in what has traditionally been the deepest and toughest conference for the high jump. McCloud cleared 2.11 meters (6-11.00) and nearly cleared a new PR of 2.16 meters. It marks the first time he has scored at the conference championship meet outdoors in his career.
Scoring valuable points for the women was the pair of Elena Bruckner and Lauryn Caldwell. Bruckner finished fourth with her mark of 16.08 meters (52-9.25) in the shot put. Caldwell's best throw measured 15.10 meters (49-6.50), just shy of her personal best to finish in eighth place.
Two Longhorns scored in the women's pole vault as well to close the women's field events on Saturday. Kally Long took fifth and Ali Uhle tied for eighth. They both cleared 4.06 meters (13-3.75) but could not go any higher and combined to score 4.5 points for the team.
Redshirt freshman David Rueff came up big for the men as he scored his first points at a conference championship meet. He ended the field events for the men with a seventh-place finish in the shot put. He posted a new personal best throw of 14.76 meters (48-5.25).
The last event of the night was the 3,000 meter steeplechase. The men's team got five points with Nate Moore leading way in sixth place. Redshirt freshman John Rice was right behind him in seventh. Alex Rogers was just off the scoring pace as he crossed the line in ninth place.
Sophomore Meghan Lloyd finished in 11th for the women in the steeplechase as she was unable to crack the top eight and score points.
Action on the final day of the Big 12 Championship is set to start from Rock Chalk Park at 2:30 p.m. The final event is slated for 8:45 p.m. when trophies will be awarded to the winning teams.
"People aren't going to hand you a championship so we've got to hit the ground running tomorrow," Sategna said. "We have the high jump up first for the women, but I'm excited to see the 4x100 relays on the track because I think that they can really set the tone. We've been in championships before where it comes down to the 4x400."
Fans can keep up with the action at the Big 12 Championship with live results provided online by DeltaTiming.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.
Coach Talk
Head Coach Mario Sategna
On the long jumpers stepping up: To have three guys come in and score is huge. George definitely redeemed himself. Every time you're in that top eight, you're bumping other people out.
On Spencer McCloud: It was great to see Spencer McCloud score for the first time in his career, and our conference is one of the bets if not the best in the nation for his event.
Associate Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey – Sprints/Hurdles
On her group overall: I feel like we didn't have anyone that competed today that didn't advance. The ones that we put in events that we expected to advance, they all did. We didn't have any misses, which was great.
On her group's attitude after prelims: They just got to finish it. It definitely puts you in a comfort zone when you know you have a lot of bodies. Now they see themselves having a shot at winning and now people are going to bring it. I heard them talking about it. They really see the finish line coming so they're going to fight for it tomorrow.
On who stood out to her: Kirema ran a five-tenths PR today, so that was huge. He wasn't at this meet last year because of the passing of his father, and you can tell he was motivated today. He wants to be here at this meet and contribute. I was the most impressed with him and what he did today.
On leadership within her group: The ones that are leading and have a really good chance at winning are running like winners. They're fighting and pushing themselves. When the leaders are doing it, that's when the others show up.
On Teahna Daniels advancing in multiple events: We hope that each year when they get more mature that they can step up and run in more events and make a big impact on the meet like that.
Assistant Coach Zach Glavash – Men's Sprints
On the men's sprinters: It was a great day. The guys came out here really focused. It started in the 100 hurdles, actually with Coach Bailey's hurdlers. They were firing and got three through and then it snowballed from there. We got three through in the 100, two in the 400, four in the 200, the top two in the 400 hurdles. We had a solid day.
On his group performing well and setting the tone: I'm proud of the guys. Everyone in the group stepped up. The biggest thing to do is set yourself up for the final day, and the final day is about fun. Today was the work. Tomorrow is the fun part. We just have to come out here again tomorrow and go to work and hopefully summate some points.
Assistant Coach Seth Henson – Multis/Jumps
On Spencer McCloud: Spencer, again, just having good weeks of competition and training leading up to this meet, I think made him really ready to jump. He kept himself composed and focused. He had two really good attempts at 2.16 meters. I think he's physically and now mentally ready to set a new lifetime PR. You never know what can happen at the regional meet on our home turf. If you jump 2.16, you just might punch your ticket to nationals.
Assistant Coach Brad Herbster – Distance
On his mid-distance runners: We started out the day really well on the distance side. I was really pleased with the 1,500's. Alex ran a really nice race. Destiny, Abby and Sandie looked really solid; Abby just missed out on making that final. In the 800, Gabby showed great heart and made it through to the final, and Derrell was the first one out.
On the steeplechase: The steeple is an important event for us, especially when we're ranked highly in it. Tonight we didn't perform up to our expectations in that event, but we got to make sure we're closing out tomorrow.
Players Mentioned
