The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA West Preliminary Rounds
Sprinters punch tickets to NCAAs in bunches
05.27.2017 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns put on show to close NCAA West Preliminary Rounds
NCAA West Preliminary Rounds
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Complete Results | Texas Meet Notes
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track & Field reeled in qualifiers for the NCAA Championship on Saturday during the final day of the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds from Mike A. Myers Stadium. Every sprinter and hurdler who ran on the last day of the meet advanced out of the regional meet and to the final stage.
When the dust settled, the Longhorns had tallied 10 qualifiers on the men's side from this meet and 11 for the women. The men will have 12 total with two additional coming in the decathlon that do not qualify through the regional process.
Head Coach Mario Sategna said he was pleased with how his team performed and is excited to be taking so many high-quality athletes to the championship meet in Eugene, Oregon.
"What we do here at this meet sets the tone for the semifinal rounds in Eugene because your lane draws are seeded from here on out. When we go to Eugene now we have got to get the points where we can get them and we should be good," Sategna said. "This is not an easy meet whether it's at home or not. You're going to the well for three days, especially coming off the conference championship it's a tough one to get through."
The Longhorns started the day with both their 4x100 meter relays qualifying.
It was the women clocking in at 44.49 seconds to take third in their heat initially and grab an automatic spot to the championship in Eugene, Oregon. The team of Chrisann Gordon, Teahna Daniels, Zola Golden and Rushelle Burton would later bump up one spot after Oregon was disqualified from the heat for being out of an exchange zone. The DQ of the Ducks was a blow to their squad as they had broken the collegiate record twice this season in the 4x100.
The men's team of Carlton Anumnu, Aldrich Bailey Jr., Charles Anumnu and Senoj-Jay Givans nearly broke the school record in their run to advance to Eugene. They teamed up to run 39.10 seconds, just .02 off the previous record set in 2003.
After the relay teams advanced, it was time for the hurdlers to put on a show for the Longhorns.
With three women from Texas fighting for spots to Oregon in the 100 meter hurdles, all three of them took care of business and advanced.
Ariel Jones took third in the first heat to automatically advance with her time of 13.04 seconds. Ashley Miller was right behind her in fourth place at 13.19 seconds and would eventually grab an at-large berth based on her time to head to the national championship for a second straight year.
In the second heat, it was freshman Rushelle Burton winning to grab her automatic spot in the championship. She clocked in at 12.75 seconds to rank third on the day and ranks No. 1 in the NCAA this season.
The men's hurdlers followed the impressive showing by the women and matched it with John Burt and Spencer Dunkerley-Offor both moving onto the national championship meet in the 110 meter hurdles.
Burt exploded out of the blocks with a phenomenal start out of the blocks. He won the second heat in 13.75 seconds with Dunkerley-Offor right next to him in the heat crossing in 13.84 to take second.
It marks a return trip for both to the championship meet and Hayward Field. Burt finished 23rd last year as a true freshman. Dunkerley-Offor missed last season with an injury and in 2015 finished sixth as a sophomore.
Sprinters continued to roll in the qualifying marks in the 200 meters after the hurdlers put on their display.
Sophomore Teahna Daniels made it 2-for-2 in her individual events. She finished fourth in her heat but grabbed the top at-large bid based on time. Daniels clocked in at 22.95 seconds for the 10th best time on the day.
The men followed that performance with Aldrich Bailey Jr. and Senoj-Jay Givans both advancing to the NCAA Championship in Eugene.
Givans got it started in the 200 by taking third in the opening heat. He battled in a close finish for third in his heat at 20.36 seconds. Then, Bailey blazed through the turn and crossed the finish line in 20.17 to win his heat and post the fastest time of the meet.
Both Givans and Bailey are now qualified in two individual events with Givans qualifying in the 100 meters on Friday night and Bailey in the 400.
The women's 4x400 relay was the last event of the night for the Longhorns and the group of Ariel Jones, Chrisann Gordon, Serenity Douglas and Zola Golden came away with a time of 3:28.30 to win their heat and advance to Eugene.
The Longhorns battled with the Aggies for the lead throughout the meet with it being exchanged a couple times. With 150 meters to go Golden was two steps behind A&M's anchor leg and began her kick. She stormed by out of the turn and left her behind to get the win and get the crowd on its feet.
Field events started with heartbreak for the Longhorns as redshirt sophomore Brian Peterson finished in 13th place in the discus. His top throw measured in at 54.90 meters (180-1). Another 19 inches would have bumped him up to 12th place and in the field at the NCAA Championship.
Another Longhorn had a solid performance in the discus but came up shy in the end. Alan Zapalac finished in 17th place with his throw of 54.57 meters (179-0). Zapalac had a consistent series with his last two throws measuring over 176 feet.
The women's triple jump saw sophomore Georgia Wahl have her best performance as a Longhorn, leaping to a measurement of 12.83 meters (42-1.25) to finish in 22nd place. She held the overall after the completion of the first two flights and then had to wait out the three attempts from the remaining 24 jumpers to see where she would finish in the standings.
Wahl was all smiles after her jump, which was with a legal wind. That new personal best mark moves her into the top 10 in school history and ranks her as the No. 9 Longhorn all-time.
In the triple jump, a pair of Longhorns were unable to advance to the championship meet. Freshman O'Brien Wasome fouled his first attempts and was able to only muster a leap of 15.63 meters (51-3.50) on his final attempt. That put him at 14th place and he would eventually drop to 16th to miss out on making the trip to Eugene.
Senior Nick Phynn was not far behind Wasome with his distance of 15.59m (51-1.75). He finished in 20th place in his last meet as a Longhorn.
Throwers Elena Bruckner and Lauryn Caldwell were unable to advance to the national championship meet in the shot put with Bruckner finishing in 21st place and Caldwell claiming 36th.
High jumper Spencer McCloud could not keep his momentum from the Big 12 Championship going as he failed to clear the third bar of the competition and eventually finished in a tie for 29th place at 2.05m (6-8.75). With a deep field, McCloud would have needed to clear four bars to qualify for the NCAA Championship.
Senior Sandie Raines battled the hot, humid conditions not ideal for the long distance events along with the rest of the field in the 5,000 meters. She was not able to secure a top five spot in her heat to move as she finished in 14th in her heat and 32nd overall to end her collegiate career.
In total Texas takes 11 men's individual entries and the 4x100 relay to the NCAA Championship in Eugene with nine of the qualifiers coming out of the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds. Two athletes, Wolf Mahler and Steele Wasik had already qualified for the national meet in the decathlon.
The women take nine individual entries, plus the two relay teams to Eugene to take on the best of the best in two weeks at Hayward Field.
This year's NCAA Championship will be aired on the ESPN family of networks June 7-10 with online viewing options available as well.
The USTFCCCA will again host its TrackTown LIVE pregame show from the Monday and Tuesday practice days before the meet featuring interviews with top athletes and coaches from Hayward Field. This year's show will be streamed live on the USTFCCCA's Facebook page.
Men's NCAA Qualifiers
Aldrich Bailey Jr.: 200m, 400m
John Burt: 110m Hurdles
Spencer Dunkerley-Offor: 110m Hurdles
???????Senoj-Jay Givans: 100m, 400m
Wolf Mahler: Decathlon
Barrett Poth: Pole Vault
Byron Robinson: 400m Hurdles
O'Brien Wasome: Long Jump
Steele Wasik: Decathlon
???????4x100m Relay
Women's NCAA Qualifiers
???????Rushelle Burton: 100m Hurdles
Haley Crouser: Javelin
???????Teahna Daniels: 100m, 200m
???????Chrisann Gordon: 400m
Ariel Jones: 100m Hurdles, 400m Hurdles
???????Kally Long: Pole Vault
Ashley Miller: 100m Hurdles
???????4x100m Relay
4x400m Relay
Coach Talk
Head Coach Mario Sategna
On Rushelle Burton: There's some people like Rushelle Burton right now, you wished every freshman came in and had a season like that, but it's not the norm. We've had others that have had a little success, Teahna last year wins the national indoor title, outdoor things don't go as well. That's just a part of the sport that I think that they gain, what they really find in trusting their coaches and trusting the people that there's tremendous support that we have here.
On Teahna Daniels: Teahna, you can't say enough about people like that. She's really grown and also for us as a program. Because thinking back to the Big 12 when we had our team meeting and I asked around the room, giving seniors in particular a chance to speak up, and then I asked if anyone else also wanted to; and then there's Teahna standing up in front of the entire team, men and women. That's what you want. She brings so much because of her athletic ability, but you want to have leaders not just like that on the women's locker room but also that aren't afraid to stand up in front of everybody and be; "hey, this is what it's about."
On the depth in the West region: I know to get out of our region and be in the top 12, I don't care the event, it is game on. We had people that we knew had an outside and some of them came through; we had some of them that were just one place short.
On men's seniors: Seno-Jay, AJ they looked like veterans. They've been through a lot to this point. It's great to see those two, along with Byron being seniors, and they're having fun running fast. There is pressure and expectations, but they've been through this enough. Their age is really shining through right now.
On who surprised him the most this week: Kirema Macharia in the 400 hurdles even though he didn't advance. He went through so much last year around the conference meet because his father had passed away. This week, I saw a guy that has been riding the coattails of Byron, just doing everything he's asked. He knocks half a second off his time, and even though he doesn't advance to the national meet he's walking away like, 'This isn't going to happen again.' I want to say I was surprised, but then I think I'm not surprised because anything Byron does, it's not surprising, but to run that fast and watching his race with the amount of wind there was yesterday, that is an elite world class performance.
Associate Head Coach Tonja Buford Bailey – Sprints/Hurdles
On going to Eugene: I'm excited to be going with everyone. I love going to Eugene. It's a great place to have a meet. I'm just glad for all the kids that qualified because this is really big for them. They've been training all year for this so we're excited about it.
On Zola having a strong finish in the 4x400 and what she told her after the 400m on Friday night: Really, that she is capable of doing it, because when stuff like that happens that the first thing you start doing is doubting yourself. So I just reminded her of how she really pulled the group together in these relays because she's given us a good split every time. The beginning of the season when we started running the 4x4s, she's always such a great split and even starting in the indoor season. So I'm just like; "remember that that's what you're good at." Sometimes you've just got to focus on that. I know she's very disappointed because I know she wanted to run the open 400 but I think she's done some soul searching and figured out why it's not translating over. Then eventually, when she gets that, it'll be great.
On what went right for the hurdlers: They were really determined to qualify. We were calling ourselves "hurdler squad." They have a whole text message chain and stuff going on with the hurdle squad, so I think overall they're just like one little group that likes to push each other and challenge each other, even at practice. So I just think that it worked its way out that they were all really determined to make it.
On the relationship between Spencer and John Burt: John has this really great powerful start because of football and then Spencer just accelerates so well through the hurdles and that's really special. They complement each other for sure.
On getting John Burt up to speed with him coming in later this season: It was easier this year because it was a little bit harder last year. This year I think maybe the first two weeks it took him a minute to remember that he was a runner, but he was a little bit fitter coming in this time. So it did not take as long at all, he's really looking really good.
Players Mentioned
