Zamzow, McCarter, Men's DMR claim Big 12 titles

Friday, February 23

Ames, Iowa

TBA

University of Texas

Big 12 Indoor Championship

Virginia Preiss, Georgia Wahl, Ashtin Zamzow

02.24.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Zamzow makes history for Longhorns

Big 12 Indoor Championship

AMES, Iowa – It was an historic day to open the Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championship for the Texas Longhorns with three event titles claimed and one school record shattered.

Redshirt junior Ashtin Zamzow became the first woman to win a Big 12 title in the pentathlon for Texas as she put together an impressive day over her five events while holding off a charge from Texas Tech's Kaylee Hinton in what was one of the more exciting finishes of the day.

Zamzow won the pentathlon with a total of 4,076 points to hold off Hinton by just one point. Zamzow entered the final event of the pentathlon with a 7-point lead. She had to make sure Hinton did not beat her by more than half a second in the 800 meters to clinch the title. Hinton crossed in 2:17.58 and Zamzow fell at the line on Hinton's heels in 2:18.02 to get the overall win by a single point.

"I'm just so happy. Words can't describe what I'm feeling right now," Zamzow said. "I still can't believe what I did today, honestly. I just don't believe it."

Texas Interim Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey said she was extremely proud of the fight that Zamzow showed throughout her five events on Friday to get the win and break the school record.

"Ashtin Zamzow put it out there from the very beginning. She didn't have the greatest hurdles, but she came back and hammered it in every other event," Buford-Bailey said. "She kept her head and everybody else here was able to see that and really hit the ground running after that.

Zamzow was not the only Longhorn to win in dramatic fashion on Friday."

Junior Steffin McCarter took on a talented field in the long jump in what was billed as one of the more competitive events of the entire meet. McCarter went into his final jump in seventh place and with his teammates cheering him on, he launched himself 7.96 meters (26-1.50) and into first place. The remaining six jumpers were unable to respond and overtake his mark.

McCarter's mark now ranks him second in school history as he moves ahead of Eric Metcalf and trails Marquise Goodwin by seven inches. The long jump was one of the most talented events in the entire meet with two more jumpers surpassing 26 feet.

"My team was right there supporting me and I told them if they came out and they lined the runway that I would put something out there for them. Really in my mind I was like, 'I'm doing this for them' and not for myself," McCarter said. "It was a hard competition, but they really rallied behind me and it helped me exponentially."

Buford-Bailey said it was a spectacle to watch the long jump with so many elite jumpers going at it in a high-pressure situation. McCarter and teammate O'Brien Wasome did not disappoint as Wasome finished fifth with his jump of 7.70m (25-3.25).

"Steffin McCarter had everyone along that long jump just screaming and yelling for him and it really took him to the next level," Buford-Bailey said. "He knew how tough it was going to be. Him seeing everyone supporting him, just being in his corner and believing in him, telling him that he could do it really brought a lot out of him today."

The night closed with the men's team throwing down the gauntlet in the distance medley relay. The Longhorns ran Alex Rogers, Terry Brown Jr., Logan Emery and Sam Worley and after Rogers ran a blazing opening leg in the 1,200, it was all Longhorns.

Texas won the men's DMR title for the first time since 2009 and dominated the field with a victory by more than nine seconds.

The women's DMR of Alex Cruz, Anne Sofie Kirkegaard, Gabby Crank and Abby Guidry finished in fifth place just before the men's race with their time of 11:31.09. Their four points gave the women's team a total of 38 for Day 1 as the Longhorns stand in third place with the Big 12 title on the line Saturday.

The men's team tallied 44 points on the first day of action and currently hold the lead before points get handed out in every event Saturday.

The three championship performances were not the only ones to make a significant impact for the Longhorns on Day 1 at Big 12s.

Joining Zamzow on the podium for the pentathlon were Georgia Wahl and Virginia Preiss.

Wahl, a triple jumper by trade, added the pentathlon to her bag of tricks this season and came away in fifth place for the Longhorns. She scored a total of 3,853 points in the five events while posting personal bests in the 60m hurdles and 800. Her score ranks her as the No. 4 performer in school history. Wahl would also finish seventh in the open long jump to score two points for the overall team total.

Preiss had her best day ever on the track. She PR'd in all but one of the five events, and had multiple PRs in the high jump and long jump. Her score of 3,792 points put her right behind Wahl in sixth place. Preiss also is No. 5 in school history in the pentathlon.

The men's weight throw saw an exciting battle between senior Alan Zapalac and Kansas State's Mitch Dixon.

Zapalac moved into the lead in Round 3 with a throw of 21.56m (70-9.00). He held that lead until Round 6 when Dixon threw 21.58m on his final throw. Zapalac put a big throw out there in response but it measured just short and would not be enough to reclaim the lead on the very last throw of the competition and win Texas' first title in men's weight throw. Zapalac's runner-up finish earned him eight points for the team.

Scoring big points for the women in the pole vault was Kally Long and Ali Uhle. Long finished second and cleared a new season's best height of 4.29m (14-0.75). That mark puts her at No. 11 in the NCAA this season and should get her a spot at the national championship meet. Uhle cleared 3.99m (13-1.00) to finish in eighth place. The pair totaled nine points for the team scoring. Calie Spencer also cleared 3.99m and finished in ninth place based on misses.

In the men's pole vault, Barrett Poth finished in fifth place, sailing over the bar at 5.29m (17-4.25). Nick Meaders joined him on the podium in eighth place.

Distance runners grabbed key points for both the men and women near the end of the night in the 5,000 meters.

Meghan Lloyd ran with the leaders throughout much of the race and Destiny Collins hung right with her for a spell. The two would both make the podium with Lloyd finishing in fourth place at 16:45.57. Collins finished in eighth place in her first collegiate indoor 5k. She clocked in at 16:51.21, a time that ranks her 10^th in school history.

The men's 5,000 saw John Rice make a move to the lead with just a few laps to go. Pushing the pace he was able to pull along teammate Charles Mills as they finished in fifth and sixth place, respectively. Rice clocked 14:05.20 for a new personal best and Mills also ran a strong time of 14:09.16. Freshman Connor O'Neill almost made it three Longhorns on the podium as he finished in ninth place.

Sophomore George Patrick set the tone in the men's multi-event as he holds a commanding lead in the heptathlon after Day 1. His point total through four of the seven events is 3,307 points and is nearly 300 points ahead of second place. Patrick established the tone early and kept the heat on as he set personal bests in all four events, closing the day with a high jump of 6 foot 7 inches (2.01m) and a shout heard across the building.

The running preliminaries provided a lot of excitement for the Longhorns as well.

Sophomore Serenity Douglas arguably had the best day of all among the sprinters as she posted PRs in the 60, 200 and 400 meters while making the final in the 200 and 400. Douglas clocked a strong 23.77 in the 200 to stand at No. 2 in the prelims. She also ran the No. 2 time in the 400 prelims, clocking 53.59 seconds. She will look to keep UT's dominance in the 400 going as Texas has won four straight titles in the event and all with different runners.

Teahna Daniels also advanced to the final in two sprint events. She ran 7.40 to move on in the 60 where she is the defending champion, and she will join Douglas in the 200 final after running 24.03 seconds.

The Texas women dominated the prelims in the 60 meter hurdles and set up the opportunity for a huge point grab on Saturday. All four Longhorns advanced out of the prelims to the final as senior transfer Pedrya Seymour lead the charge in 8.14 seconds. Sophomore and defending champion Rushelle Burton ran 8.25, junior Mariam Abdul-Rashid clocked 8.28 and senior Ariel Jones ran 8.30.

Men's hurdlers saw similar success with all three Longhorns moving to the final. John Burt ran the fastest time in prelims at 7.90 seconds. Sophomore Medric Roberson was just off his PR time at 8.09 and after George Patrick had his stellar day in the heptathlon, he also advanced in the open hurdles in 8.15 seconds.

Like Douglas for the women, Terry Brown Jr. had one of the better days among the men's sprinters. Before winning his first Big 12 title as a member of the DMR, Brown clocked personal bests in the 200 and 400 meters. He finished 10^th in the 400 at 47.64, just missing the final. He then qualified for the final in the 200 at 21.37 seconds.

Joining Brown Jr. in the finals of the 200 will be freshman Micaiah Harris. He clocked 21.12 in the 200 for the No. 4 time in prelims and ran 47.36 to make the 400 final.

Mid-distance runners made a big contribution for the Longhorns on Friday as well with the women nearly batting a thousand in the prelims for those events.

Alex Cruz ran a personal best to move on in the mile, the first prelim of the day. Megan Rourke and Sydne Fowler then both made the final in the 600 yards. Rourke ran the fastest time in the prelims at 1:21.70. Gabby Crank also ran strong in the 800 for the women. She finished in 2:09.77, just off her PR pace. Her time ranked third in the prelims. Skyler Bollinger was unable to advance out of the 1,000 meters for the only miss in women's mid-distance.

The men's mid-distance runners showed well in the 800 and 1,000. Worley moved to the final in the 800 and Jake McConnell stepped up to finish third in his heat and grab an automatic spot in the final of the 1,000. Alex Rogers will run the final of the men's mile after preliminary heats were not needed for the event. Kirema Macharia ran a new PR in the 600 yards but was one spot short of advancing as he finished in ninth place overall.

In total Texas advanced eight men's runners to their respective finals and 12 spots for women are reserved in their finals. Saturday will also see the finals in the 3,000 meters and the remaining field events.

"That's all we talked about was getting bodies into the finals, worrying about that at the end and really focusing on Day 1. They put things together on Day 1 and worked together as a team," Buford-Bailey said. "I'm proud of this group and the way they came together and how invested they are. They are really invested in each other and I think that's the most important thing."

Day 2 action starts at 11 a.m. Fans can watch the action live with FloTrack providing a live stream for subscribers. Live results also will be provided by Delta Timing with a link available on the track team's schedule page.

Coach Talk

Interim Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey
On DMR's victory: The first leg for the DMR from Alex Rogers was unbelievable. I think he split 2:51. It was really great to see them come out there today and put it out there so well.

Associate Head Coach Ty Sevin – Pole Vault, Throws, Multi-Events
On women's pole vault: Kally Long had a great day earning silver for us in the pole vault. She cleared a season's best and moved up the national list with a mark that should solidify her a spot at the NCAA Championship. Ali Uhle finishing eight and scoring helped give us the points we needed in that event.

On men's weight throw: I'm proud of Alan Zapalac and his effort today. We knew it would be a battle and getting passed up in the last round can be tough. He tried to respond. He had a big throw but it just wasn't big enough to reclaim the lead and win the title. He should be proud of his performance.

On men's pole vault: Barrett Poth and Nick Meaders gave us valuable points in the men's vault. Barrett had some very nice jumps and battled today to finish in fifth place against a strong group of vaulters from this conference.

On pentathlon: Ashtin Zamzow showed a lot of fight today. Her performance was inspiring to win the pentathlon the way that she did. She was not the only one to perform in that event either. Georgia Wahl and Virginia Preiss both had incredible meets and I'm proud of how all three of them came together today to put together an amazing pentathlon. That was a lot of fun to watch and coach today.

On George Patrick: George is a competitor and he came to play today. It's not easy to PR in every event of a multi, but George did that today. He really set the tone for the entire team with how he performed today.

Assistant Coach Brad Herbster – Distance
On DMR's: The men's DMR race well to get us the win for the first time in nine years. Rogers really had a Texas-sized leadoff leg. The women's DMR competed hard all the way through and picked up valuable points.

On individual distance races: Our distance runners got important people through to the final day by making it through the rounds. And we scored tremendous points in the 5k from Meghan and Destiny, who worked well together through the race. Meghan closed well and looked strong. Rice and Mills had huge races setting PRs and racing well. I thought Rice was going to win and he put himself in it. Charles stepped up and beat people. It was a good opening day. Tomorrow is the big day where we need to grab points and solidify points for the team.

Assistant Coach Zach Glavash – Sprints/Hurdles
Overall assessment: The athletes competed well today. You could feel the fire and desire to place high and make finals.

On men's long jump: First and foremost our horizontal jumpers did what they needed to do for the team. O'Brien was consistent and Steffin stayed the course and popped off a jump to win the competition in dramatic fashion. Steffin winning the conference championship was huge. Our volunteer assistant Jarard Bruner did a great job with the technical coaching of these athletes. Hats off to him. Our strength coach Clint Martin also played a huge role in their preparation.

On the sprinters: The men's sprinters qualified how we expected. Seeing Terry Brown making his first conference final, that was great. The women did was we expected and put themselves in good scoring position for tomorrow. We just need to keep the momentum rolling.