The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Invitational
Track & Field hosts final home meet Friday, Saturday
04.12.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Longhorns set for Texas Invitational
Texas Invitational
Live Results | Meet Schedule | Heat Sheets
Complete Meet Notes
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Track & Field will host its final home meet of the outdoor season this weekend when the Longhorns welcome teams from across the state and nation to Mike A. Myers Stadium for the Texas Invitational on Friday and Saturday.
Action is set to begin at 10 a.m. each day with Day 1 featuring a number of field events early on and a series of distance events to close the evening. Saturday will see another elite pole vault competition that will feature world indoor record holder Renaud Lavillenie of France and three other world-class vaulters from France. Team USA Olympian Logan Cunningham will be in that field as a total of four Olympians take the runway in the men's pole vault Saturday afternoon. The women's pole vault on Saturday is expected to feature world indoor record holder Jenn Suhr as Myers Stadium again brings top talent to Austin to jump.
The Longhorns will see strong competition in a number of the field events with Kansas State, Michigan and Princeton having athletes that rank among the NCAA leaders set to compete in the throwing events. The distance events welcome some of the national leaders from Michigan and Princeton as well as the hosting Longhorns. In the sprints it will be Texas taking on the likes of conference rivals Baylor along with Houston runners among the top in the NCAA so far in 2018.
Admission to the meet is free both days as fans are encouraged to take in the track meet as part of a full schedule of events on campus this weekend with Texas Softball and both Texas Men's Tennis and Texas Women's Tennis home for competition.
Fans unable to attend can follow the action from the Texas Invitational online with live results provided by Karma Rush. A link to the live results will be provided on TexasSports.com and updates on the Longhorns can be found on the team's official Twitter account @TexasTFXC. Fans are encouraged to follow and interact with the meet by using the hashtag #TXinvite18.
Events to Watch
• Men's Pole Vault: Myers Stadium is among the best places in America to pole vault and its reputation has some of the world's best here this weekend to jump. Olympic gold medalist and world indoor record holder Renaud Lavillenie headlines a field loaded with post-collegiate athletes and world class talent as 4 Olympians take the runway on Saturday.
• Women's 400m Hurdles: A trio of runners set to battle for the Big 12 title will face each other this weekend with junior Mariam Abdul-Rashid and senior Ariel Jones taking on Kansas State's Ranae McKenzie. Abdul-Rashid currently ranks No. 6 in the NCAA this season with her time of 57.40 seconds. McKenzie is 8th and Jones is 12th. Jones is seeking to become the first woman to win 4 Big 12 titles in this event.
• Women's 100m Hurdles: Texas has one of the deepest groups of hurdlers in the nation. All-Americans Rushelle Burton, Pedrya Seymour and Ariel Jones joined by junior Mariam Abdul-Rashid give Texas a major scoring threat at Big 12's. Burton leads the NCAA this season with a time of 12.64 seconds to win the Texas Relays. All 4 of these Longhorns rank in the Top 48 in the NCAA this year.
• Women's Hammer Throw: Sophomore Elena Bruckner broke senior Lauryn Caldwell's school record in this event at Texas Relays as the pair look to have a friendly battle all season. Kansas State brings 2 throwers ranked in the Top 12 in the NCAA this year and Houston adds another at No. 16 to make this a strong field.
• Men's 200m: Freshman Micaiah Harris will see some of the top runners in the country when he gets in the blocks for this event. Half of Houston's NCAA champion 4x100m relay team is in the race and K-State's Terrell Smith gives the 200m a trio of All-Americans running along with 3 more post-collegiate athletes in the field.
Texas Track & Field Notebook
Texas Ranked Among Nation's Best
• Texas Track & Field is again among the top programs in the NCAA this season with the women ranked No. 8 in the latest USTFCCCA Rankings heading into this week's action. The men's squad comes in at No. 22 this week.
• The Big 12 Conference is well represented with 5 men's teams in the Top 25, including Texas Tech (2), Kansas (12), Baylor (19) and TCU (20).
• For the women, Texas is the top team in the conference with Kansas State not far behind at No. 10. Oklahoma moves up to No. 15 this week and Texas Tech jumped 13 spots this week to No. 24.
Bruckner Breaks Record, Aces Test
• Sophomore Elena Bruckner proved she is the ultimate student-athlete during the Texas Relays with a record-breaking performance while juggling her academics.
• Bruckner broke the school record in the hammer throw on her first attempt with a mark of 56.21m (184-5). That mark surpassed teammate Lauryn Caldwell's mark of 55.42m.
• After her 3 attempts in Flight 1, Bruckner ran across campus to take a test in her Psychology of Advertising class while still wearing her uniform. She then hustled back to the track in time to take her final 2 throws in the finals.
• She finished the meet in 7th place and later tweeted that she made a 96 on her test.
Lloyd Shatters Steeplechase Record
• Junior Meghan Lloyd shattered her own school record in the 3000m steeplechase to open her 2018 outdoor season. She shaved more than 7 seconds off her time to finish 2nd at the Texas Relays, clocking in at 10:13.35.
• Lloyd's time ranks her No. 2 in the Big 12 Conference this year and 13 in the NCAA.
• She held the lead for much of the race but was unable to hold off Clemson's Logan Morris to finish runner-up a second straight year at Texas Relays.
• Lloyd was not alone for Texas in registering solid marks in the steeplechase. Sophomore Abby Guidry made her career debut in the steeplechase and came in 3rd place with a time of 10:35.34. That time ranks her 3rd in school history and 5th in the Big 12 this season.
• Redshirt freshman Skyler Bollinger also clocked in with a Texas top 10 time at 10:56.05. She finished 7th, which also is her rank in school history. Bollinger has previous steeplechase experience having ran and won a 2000m steeplechase last year unattached at the Longhorn Invitational.
Rice Wins Opener
• Redshirt sophomore John Rice dominated the field in his season opener to win the steeplechase at the Texas Relays. His time of 8:46.52 bested the competition by nearly 10 full seconds and cut 11 seconds off his previous personal best time.
• He currently sits at No. 8 in the NCAA this season and leads the Big 12 Conference. His time ranks him as the No. 9 Longhorn in school history.
DMR Pulls Away in Dramatic Win
• The men's distance medley relay team of Sam Worley, Andrew Price, Logan Emery and Alex Rogers put together an impressive victory at the Texas Relays with a time of 9:43.99.
• The Longhorns led throughout much of the race before Rogers let the anchor leg from Texas A&M take the lead. Then with 300m to go, Rogers kicked it in gear, leaving the Aggies behind at the finish line.
• It marked the first time since 2013 the Longhorns won the DMR at their biggest home meet of the year.
Piperi Claims Victory in Outdoor Debut
• Fresh off a 7th place finish at the NCAA Indoor Championships, freshman Tripp Piperi grabbed his first win of the outdoor season in the shot put at the Texas Relays.
• Piperi never trailed in the competition and eventually won by more than a foot with his toss of 19.60m (64-3.75).
• His throw ranks him 8th in school history and currently stands at No. 8 in the NCAA this season.
Burton Rolls to NCAA Lead
• Sophomore hurdler Rushelle Burton showed she is ready for outdoor season with a blazing fast time of 12.64 seconds to win the 100m hurdles at the Texas Relays.
• After clocking 13.14 in the prelims, Burton took charge and rolled her way to victory in the final in a wind-aided time that leads the NCAA and is currently No. 2 in the world this year.
• Burton led a group of Longhorns in the final with senior Pedrya Seymour finishing 3rd, junior Mariam Abdul-Rashid finished 6th and senior Ariel Jones was 9th.
• The group of hurdlers represents a big scoring opportunity for Texas at the Big 12 Conference Championship later this year.
Senior Javelin Throwers Continue to Thrive
• Seniors Haley Crouser and Fabian Dohmann are among the national leaders this year in the javelin as the pair has opened the 2018 outdoor season with a trio of impressive performances.
• Crouser has won both of her meets this year with big throws and dominated the field winning by more than 12 feet in her opener at the UTSA Invitational. Her throw of 53.94m (176-11) marked her best throw of her collegiate career and moves her closer to the school record of 182-6.
• The throw for Crouser bested her own meet record set last year when she threw the javelin 51.41m. It also is nearly three feet farther than her throw that earned her eighth place at the NCAA Championships last year.
• Crouser backed that up with a win at the Texas Relays and 51.29m (168-3). She took the win as the top collegiate in the field with the lone post-collegiate athlete not eligible for the victory.
• Dohmann took 2nd place at the Texas Relays with a throw of 74.13m (243-2). He fell to Utah State's Sindri Gudmundsson, who ranks No. 2 in the NCAA this year.
• Dohmann's throw at Texas Relays was just 5cm short of his mark from the UTSA Invitational earlier in the month that saw him set a new meet record of 74.18m. That distance currently ranks Dohmann No. 4 in the NCAA this season.
Players Mentioned
