Seven more Longhorns punch tickets to NCAA Championship

Friday, May 26

Austin, Texas

All Day

University of Texas

NCAA West Preliminary Rounds

Seven more Longhorns punch tickets to NCAA Championship

05.26.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Robinson breaks meet record as hurdlers roll on Day 2 of West Prelims

AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track & Field continued its impressive showing at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds with another seven Longhorns advancing through their events onto the NCAA Championship in Eugene, Oregon.

Day 2 of the meet was highlighted by senior Byron Robinson setting a new meet record in the 400 meter hurdles as he showed strong form clocking in at 48.58 seconds. That time ranks him as the No. 2 performer in school history and currently leads the NCAA this season.

Sprinters qualified for Eugene and punched their tickets to TrackTown in bunches. The Longhorns got one student-athlete into the championship meet in the 100, 400 and 400 meter hurdles for both the men and women on Friday.

The day started off strong with the first ticket punched to the championship.

Barrett Poth will make a return trip to Eugene in June after he had no misses during the pole vault competition on Friday afternoon. He successfully cleared three bars all on first attempts to tie for first place and qualify for the championship meet. He cleared a final height of 5.35 meters (17-6.50).

Poth nearly earn All-America honors last year in his first NCAA Outdoor Championship when he finished in a tie for 17^th place. This year he will look to improve on that and get in the top 16 to earn All-America for the Longhorns.

It was close to being two Longhorns in the pole vault in Eugene with redshirt sophomore Nick Meaders finishing in a tie for 15^th place. He cleared 5.25 meters (17-2.75) but was unable to match Poth's 5.35m and qualify for his first national championship.

Texas kept the qualifying performances coming in the sprinting events during the afternoon and evening.

Senior Chrisann Gordon won her heat of the 400 meters to punch the first running event ticket to the NCAA Championship for Texas. She registered a time of 51.20 for the No. 2 time of the quarterfinals as she looks to win her first individual national title.

In the men's 400, Aldrich Bailey Jr. kept the trend going on the track with his qualifying performance. He clocked a time of 45.32 seconds for his new best as a Longhorn. That time ranks him the No. 2 performer in school history.

After Gordon and Bailey advanced in the 400, the Longhorns made it 2-for-2 in the 100 meters with Teahna Daniels moving on to Eugene on the women's side and Senoj-Jay Givans for the men.

Daniels clocked 11.13 seconds for a new personal best as the wind died down just enough for her heat to allow for legal winds. She now is the No. 6 Longhorn all-time in the event.

Givans took second place in his heat to automatically advance to the championship meet. His time of 10.03 seconds was good enough for fifth at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds.

Then it was time for the 400 meter hurdlers to put on a show.

It started with Ariel Jones in the women's quarterfinals. She posted a new personal best time of 56.44 seconds to rank 10^th in school history. She would finish third overall and qualify for the NCAA Championship for a third consecutive year. Jones finished 19^th last year and was 15^th as a freshman in 2015.

Perhaps the most impressive performance in the hurdles went to senior Byron Robinson. The back-to-back Big 12 champion flew around the track in 48.58 seconds to break the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds meet record. It also gives him the No. 1 time in the NCAA this season heading into the championship meet.

The success of Friday's running events started with the high hurdles as Texas had four women running in the first round of the 100 meter hurdles and a trio of men in the 110 hurdles. The women went 3-for-4 in advancing to the quarterfinals and two of the men will run on Saturday for a spot at the national championship meet.

Freshman Rushelle Burton cruised to a win in her heat in 12.80 seconds to move to the next round tomorrow night. Jones closed strong in her race to also win her heat in 13.02 seconds and rank No. 6 in the first round. Sophomore Ashley Miller is the third Longhorn moving to the quarterfinals in 13.27 seconds. Mariam Abdul-Rashid clipped a hurdle midway through the race. She did not fall but the collision slowed her just enough to clock 13.69 and not move to the next round.

Big 12 champion Spencer Dunkerley-Offor set the tone for the men in the 110 hurdles. He won his heat in 13.64 seconds to post the No. 3 time on the day as he looks to return to the NCAA Championship after missing last season with an injury.

Sophomore John Burt will join Dunkerley-Offor in the quarterfinals after he clocked 13.86 seconds to finish second in his heat and post the No. 9 time of the prelims.

The sprinters closed out their night with Bailey and Givans again wowing the crowd. Bailey coasted to second place in his heat after shutting down short of the finish line. Even after slowing down, Bailey still tied his PR of 20.30 seconds heading into the quarterfinals. Givans also slowed down at the line after securing a top three spot in his heat to automatically advance out of the first round. He clocked 20.50 seconds.

Fellow senior Charles Anumnu was not able to move to the next round. He finished 37^th.

Daniels hopes to run in both the 100 and 200 meters at Eugene and took the next step moving through the first round of the 200 on Friday night. She clocked 23.44 seconds to grab an at-large spot in the quarterfinals.

The first action of the day for the women saw junior Lauryn Caldwell and Elena Bruckner in the women's discus.

Caldwell threw over 50 meters for the third straight meet finishing in 23^rd place with her measurement of 50.85 meters (166-10). Bruckner registered a distance of 48.66 meters (159-80 to finish in 37^th.

Texas closed the night with four runners in the 3,000 meter steeplechase.

Redshirt freshman John Rice ran his fastest time ever in the steeplechase and had to wait out the drama of the last heat to see if he would make it to the championship meet.

After he clocked in at 8:57.29, Rice found himself holding onto the No. 2 at-large spot out of three. That meant with the qualifying procedure for the event, the fourth place finisher in Heat 3 could run faster than him but not fifth place. With a late charge after clearing the final water jump, runners from Minnesota and BYU chased after the leaders and Rice was eventually bumped out of a qualifying spot for Eugene, and he would finish 13^th.

Sophomore Alex Rogers was in a similar situation as Rice after the first heat, but he did not have to wait out the drama as long. His time of 9:03.66 placed him 18^th overall and senior Nate Moore finished 32^nd in his final race as a Longhorn.

For the women, sophomore Meghan Lloyd ran her race in 10:59.97 to finish in 36^th place.

The final day of the meet starts at 1 p.m. Saturday with a series of field events. Running events are slated to start at 6 p.m.

Fans can follow the action live with online live results provided by PTTiming. A link is available online at texassports.com and on the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds headquarters page housed at texassports.com. Updates on the Longhorns will be on the team's official Twitter account @TexasTFXC. The NCAA will be following the meet with updates from the West and East meets at @NCAATrackField.

Texas will live stream each day's action online at texassports.com. Links will be posted on the meet headquarters page and the team's schedule page.