The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA West Preliminary Rounds
Six more Longhorns punch tickets to NCAA Track & Field Championships
05.26.2018 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Rice rebounds from 2017 heartbreak
NCAA West Preliminary Rounds
Complete Day 2 Results | Texas Post-Meet Notes Day 2
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Texas Track & Field put on a clinic on Friday during Day 2 of the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds with six Longhorns qualifying for the NCAA Championships today alone. The women's squad raked in qualifiers in bunches with five of the trips to Eugene grabbed by them and John Rice earning the lone men's spot Friday.
Rice closed the night with one of the more dominant performances and dramatic finishes of the day as he punched his ticket to his first NCAA Championship appearance in the 3,000m steeplechase by winning his heat.
Last year, Rice was in position to qualify after his heat but then saw runners in the last heat bump him out of qualifying and into 13th place. This year, Rice would not let that happen as he pulled away from the field in his heat and left no doubt to win and earn an automatic bid to the national championship meet.
As Rice approached the finish line, he pumped his fists in excitement and clocked a new personal best tie 8:43.35 to also move into seventh in school history.
Sophomore Elena Bruckner was the first woman to compete on Friday and posted her best performance of the season to earn her way to Eugene in the discus. Bruckner registered a throw of 53.61m (175-10) on her first throw in Flight 2 to catapult herself into the overall lead.
Bruckner then had to wait it out through Flight 3 and the top 16 throwers in the region to see if her distance would stay in the top 12 to advance. Only eight throwers were able to best her in Flight 3 and Bruckner qualified for her first NCAA appearance.
Then the sprinters started their barrage of qualifiers to the NCAA Championships.
First it was sophomore Serenity Douglas earning her first individual appearance at the national championship meet. She finished second in her quarterfinal heat of the 400m to get an automatic qualifying spot. Douglas clocked in at 52.42 seconds and will also run on the team's 4x400m relay on Saturday looking to qualify again.
Junior Teahna Daniels returns to Oregon for the NCAA meet in the 100m. She finished second in her heat to also get an automatic spot to the championship. Daniels crossed the line in 11.25 seconds to rank seventh on the day.
The next ticket to Oregon went to senior Ariel Jones. Just a couple hours after falling in the first round of the 100m hurdles, Jones responded with an impressive time to finish second in her heat and qualify for nationals in the 400m hurdles. Jones clocked in at 57.19 seconds, just .01 behind her heat's winner. Jones finished fourth at last year's NCAA Championships with a time of 56.52 seconds.
Senior Kally Long claimed the other qualifying spot for the women on Friday. She was one of 12 athletes to clear 4.18m (13-8.50) in the women's pole vault to make her third NCAA appearance outdoors. Long's best finish at the national meet came her sophomore year when she tied for seventh place.
Strong performances were not limited to Longhorns advancing to the NCAA Championships. A number of them moved out of their first round and to Saturday's quarterfinals in their respective events.
Junior John Burt wowed the crowd when he left the competition far behind in his heat of the 110m hurdles. Burt clocked a new personal best time of 13.65 seconds to roll into Saturday's action.
The women's team saw three Longhorns advance out of the 100m hurdles. Rushelle Burton cruised to a win in her heat in 13.04 seconds and Pedrya Seymour also won her heat in 13.08. Mariam Abdul-Rashid clocked 13.64 and was able to get one of the at-large spots based on her time for the quarterfinals.
Gabby Crank found herself in the heartbreaking position Rice did last year as she finished 13th in the 800m. Crank ran a time of 2:05.62 in the second heat of the quarterfinals. She held the second of three available spots to Eugene based on time with one heat to go. If the fourth and fifth place finishers did not run faster, she would make her first NCAA appearance. But, the final heat was a fast one and Crank got bumped to the first out spot on the list.
Another highlight of the night came in the women's steeplechase thanks to Meghan Lloyd breaking her own school record. Lloyd would not advance to the national championship meet and instead finished in 20th place in what was one of the most competitive events of the day with 26 athletes running their best race ever on Friday night.
Lloyd shaved almost two seconds off her school record, crossing the line in 10:11.73. It marks the second time this season she has broken her record in the steeplechase. Lloyd was attempting to become the first woman for Texas to ever qualify for the NCAA Championships in the steeplechase. She will have another try next year.
On the track for the men, freshman Micaiah Harris clocked in at 20.86 seconds to move to the quarterfinals of the 200m. His time was 10th on the day in an event that saw the NCAA Indoor championship not advance out of the first round.
Texas also had a handful of Longhorns competing at the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on Friday who were unable to advance to the next round in their events.
Brian Peterson finished 26th in the men's discus as the only field event action for the men that day.
Medric Roberson could not move out of the first round in the 110m hurdles and Washington Brown finished outside of the qualifying spots to advance Saturday's quarterfinals of the 200m.
In the pole vault Shay Petty was one spot away from advancing. She tied for 13th place with a clearance of 4.08m (13-8.50). Calie Spencer also finished in a tie for 22nd place in the vault.
On the track, Zola Golden was 24th in the quarterfinals of the 400m to not move on to Eugene and Abdul-Rashid was unable to join Jones in Eugene in the 400m hurdles.
Texas will close the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds on Saturday with action in four field events and seven running events.
Saturday's action starts off at noon Pacific with senior Fabian Dohmann and junior Steele Wasik in the men's javelin. Dohmann is looking to make his first NCAA appearance since his freshman year in 2014. Dohmann enters the competition ranked No. 6 in the West and No. 8 in the NCAA. He finished 18th at this meet last year. Wasik is already qualified for NCAAs in the decathlon, which is not held at the regional preliminary meets.
Track events start at 6 p.m. with the 4x100m relays. The Texas women are entered in both relays.
Fans can watch the action live online with FloTrack streaming the meet. Live results also are being provided by FlashResults.com.
2018 NCAA Championships Qualifiers
Thursday
Haley Crouser: Women's Javelin
Friday
Elena Bruckner: Women's Discus
Teahna Daniels: Women's 100m
Serenity Douglas: Women's 400m
Ariel Jones: Women's 400m Hurdles
Kally Long: Women's Pole Vault
John Rice: Men's 3,000m Steeplechase
Players Mentioned
