The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
National Relays Championship
04.28.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Poth, Long move up national rankings
National Relay Championships
Complete Results | Texas Post-Meet Notes Saturday | Live Results |
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Saturday night marked the conclusion of the inaugural National Relay Championships and the Texas Track & Field team posted some strong performances along the way. The women's team scored 19 points to tie for fourth place in the relay standings and the men finished in fifth place with 15 points.
The meet scored seven relay events, including non-traditional relays not part of the conference or national championship meets. Texas scored a victory in the men's distance medley relay and the women's 4x200m relay.
With the victory in the men's DMR, the Longhorns are 2-for-2 during the outdoor season as the Longhorns won both meets they competed in the rare outdoor event. It concludes an impressive 2018 run for the men's DMR after winning the Big 12 Championship in the event during the indoor season.
"This was an exciting meet with a unique format and we are so thankful to have been a part of the inaugural National Relay Championships," said Interim Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey. "To have a meet like this that put our athletes in a highly competitive and team oriented atmosphere right before the conference championship gave the whole meet an edge that made it that much more exciting.
"I was thrilled to see our men's DMR win another big race. That group has performed so well for us winning Big 12 Indoors, the Texas Relays and now here against some top competition. It's very exciting for those guys to win like they have and to win trophies and watches. They deserve it for all their hard work."
The team of Alex Rogers, Terry Brown Jr., Logan Emery and Sam Worley combined to run 9:34.70, the fourth-fastest time in school history. Texas held the lead throughout much of before Worley allowed Florida and Wisconsin to move ahead with just under 800 meters to go. Worley made his move with 250 to go inching closer to the lead before kicking hard on the homestretch for the win.
"It's always exciting to win the DMR. It's such a fun race to watch and compete in and that group has done a great job together," said Assistant Coach Brad Herbster. "By winning both meets we ran a men's DMR outdoors and winning Big 12 Indoors, I think this group is making a statement that Texas distance is ready and I'm very proud of how they are competing."
The other relay win for Texas went to the group of Rushelle Burton, Pedrya Seymour, Zola Golden and Teahna Daniels. They clocked in at 1:33.46 and struggled on one of the exchanges that caused Texas to lose the lead only to see Golden quickly run down the runner from Kentucky to reclaim and never surrender the lead.
Buford-Bailey said she was pleased with how the women's relay teams performed overall, in particular the 4x100 that ran the fastest time in two years for a Texas team. Burton, Golden and Daniels teamed up with Serenity Douglas to run 44.12 seconds and finished in fifth place.
"I'm very happy with how our women ran in their relay events," Buford-Bailey said. "We posted our fastest time in two years in the 4x100 and still had mistakes on exchanges two and three that we can clean up. Our times can go down with a little polishing, but I was very pleased with the improvements that I saw this week from them."
Saturday's schedule on had relay events on the track but did include a number of field events and Texas posted some of the top performances in the country this season.
The top marks of the day went to a pair of pole vaulters up against fields that included many of the top performers in the country this season in what could be a preview of the NCAA Championships.
Barrett Poth finished third in the men's invitational pole vault with a new personal best mark of 5.45m (17-10.50). The mark moves him to No. 2 in the Big 12 this season and is in the top 15 in the NCAA. He also solidifies his spot even more as the No. 9 Longhorn in school history.
Senior Kally Long had her best day of the season and had three attempts at becoming the top Longhorn of all-time. She cleared 4.36m (14-3.50) to finish in fourth place in the women's invitational pole vault. Long then had three attempts at 4.51m (15-9.50), which would have broken the school record by 1cm. Her clearance of 4.36m ranks her No. 7 in the NCAA this season.
Also performing well in the field events on Saturday was freshman Tripp Piperi in the shot put. He posted a top mark of 19.54m (64-1.25) to again be over 64 feet and was just 6.5 inches out of second place.
Another highlight for the field events went to sophomore O'Brien Wasome from the invitational triple jump. Wasome only took one jump and measured 16.43m (53-11.00) to finish in 5th place. That distance will be enough to qualify Wasome for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds, which was the focus heading into this meet for him after a lesser showing at the Texas Relays in March.
Texas currently is not slated to compete next week. Next up on the schedule for the Longhorns is the Big 12 Championship on May 11-13 hosted by Baylor.
Coach Talk
Interim Head Coach Tonja Buford-Bailey
On Serenity Douglas and Zola Golden: Serenity and Zola keep getting better each week and that is exciting. They are translating what they are doing in practice every day to competition and they are seeing the results. We will rely on them both heavily at the conference championship and to see them running so well right now is very nice.
Associate Head Coach Ty Sevin – Pole Vault/Throws/Multi-Events
On pole vault: I'm so happy to see how well Barrett and Kally jumped today. Barrett returned to form with a big PR and at a good time. You always want to head into the conference meet feeling good and Barret should definitely feel good about the way he jumped today and beating some of the best vaulters in the nation. Kally jumped well and had three attempts at a new school record. For her to do what she did today against this incredible field should give her confidence heading into the championship portion of our schedule as well.
On Tripp Piperi: Tripp has been over 64 feet all season and he's on the verge of breaking through. He's having a great freshman year so far but he and I know he has something big coming because it has been there in practice.
On Fabian Dohmann from Friday: Fabian continues to produce big throws. This is the most consistent he has been in his time here and he is proving to be one of the top javelin throwers in the NCAA this year.
Assistant Coach Brad Herbster – Distance
On distance events: We had some solid performances this week in the open events that we can take with us heading into the conference meet. We made some big strides in the 1,500 with Charles Mills, Gabby Crank and Jordan Welborn all running well. I'm excited to see what the entire distance group can do in two weeks.
Assistant Coach Zach Glavash – Sprints/Hurdles/Relays
On sprints/hurdles group: This was a great meet for our sprinters from a competition standpoint. Not only were the relay events top notch, but the open running events on Friday were of the caliber of a conference or even national championship. This was a valuable experience for our team to be in this type of atmosphere before the Big 12 Championship in two weeks.
