Track & Field concludes West Prelims with 20 entries qualified for NCAA Championship

Thursday, May 23

Sacramento, Calif.

University of Texas

NCAA First Round

Schedule Men's Entries Women's Entries

Teahna Daniels breaks Longhorn 200m Record

05.25.2019 | Track & Field / Cross Country

Day three of NCAA West Preliminaries in Sacramento features two more school records and nine more Longhorns tickets punched to NCAA Championships June 5-8 in Austin.

AUSTIN, Texas— Texas Track & Field capped the final day of the NCAA West Preliminaries in Sacramento, Calif. in spectacular fashion as the Longhorns set two more school records and added nine more event entries to their NCAA Championships roster. That increased the total number of Longhorn entries advancing to the NCAA Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin (June 5-8) to 20. Head Coach Edrick Floreal's squad also saw four school records fall during the meet. The NCAA West Preliminaries field featured the top 48 qualifiers from the West Region of the country with the top 12 finishers advancing to the National Championships.

Like freshman Jonathan Jones in the 400m on Friday night, sophomore Micaiah Harris highlighted Saturday's action by breaking a longstanding Longhorn 200m record. Harris clocked 20.21 to break Tony Jones' 32-year old school record (20.28, 1987 Southwest Conference Championships), finishing third overall and earning an NCAA Championship bid. Harris clocked 20.10 in the first-round of the 200m on Friday night to advance to the quarterfinals. That time would have been a school-record, but the wind reading of 2.4 was over the allowable limit.

Senior sprinter Teahna Daniels set the stage for Harris, breaking the Longhorn women's 200m school record and adding that event to her NCAA Championship repertoire along with the 100m and 4x100m relay. Daniels won the 100m (10.99) with the third-fastest time in school history on Friday before posting a personal-best 22.51 in the 200 meters on Saturday to finish third overall and advance in that event as well. That time broke Morolake Akinosun school record (22.52) set at 2015 NCAA Championships. Kynnedy Flannel clocked 23.08 in the 200m to finish second in her heat and join Daniels in the National Championship field.

Daniels and Flannel were both members of the UT women's 4x100m relay squad (Kennedy Simon, Teahna Daniels, Zola Golden, Kynnedy Flannel) that registered a season-best time of 43.70 to finish second in their heat and fourth overall in advancing to the NCAA Championships. The Longhorn women's 4x400m relay team of Serenity Douglas, Simon, Mariam Abdul-Rashid and Golden finished second in their heat and seventh overall with a time of 3:34.40 to also advance to the national meet in Austin.

Texas' field events shined on Saturday as well as sophomore Tripp Piperi turned in his second-best throw (68-4 ¼) of the season on the first toss of the West Prelims competition to win the shot put. Including his career-best throw of 68-11 1/4 (fourth-best throw nationally in 2019) earlier this year, Piperi has recorded two of the top eight shot put efforts in school history this outdoor season. The Longhorns featured a qualifier in both triple jump competitions as Junior O'Brien Wasome finished second in the men's triple jump with a leap of 52-10 ¼ and Senior Georgia Wahl was 11th with a leap of 42-2 ¾ to advance in the women's field.

Sophomore Sam Worley's 3:40.89 in the 1500m was his second-fastest time of the season as he finished second at the West Prelims and earned a spot in the NCAA Championships. Worley's season-best 3:38.64 ranks fifth-best nationally.

On Friday, Jones topped the performances of the Longhorns' eight NCAA Championships qualifiers, breaking a 27-year old school record in the 400 meters. His 45.02 clocking was good for second-place overall and broke Du'aine Ladejo's school mark of 45.25 that stood since the 1992 NCAA Championship. Daniels posted the third-fastest time in the 100m in school history, sprinting to a 10.99 to win that event while senior Anna McDonald also set a school record, running 9:58.07 in the 3000m steeplechase, to earn a National Championship bid. Daniels time was .05 seconds shy of Carlette Guidry's school-record (10.94) set in 1991 and McDonald become the first Longhorn woman to ever break 10 minutes in the steeple. Two Longhorn men's 3000m steeplechasers also qualified for the NCAA meet with impressive performances as senior Alex Rogers finished third in a time of 8:35.25, making him the fifth-fastest performer in that event in UT history, while junior John Rice was sixth in a time 8:38.29, becoming the eighth-fastest performer on school record. Senior Trevor Danielson finished fifth in the javelin to earn a spot at nationals and Texas advanced a pair of 400m runners to the National Championship with senior Zoe Golden taking ninth place and junior Serenity Douglas finishing 11th.

Long jumpers senior Steffin McCarter earned an NCAA Championship berth in the men's field and sophomore Sophia Falco on the women's side on Thursday. Senior Ashtin Zamzow previously qualified in the heptathlon previously, posting the nation's top mark and a school record of 6,148 points in the heptathlon at the Texas Relays.

Next up for the Longhorns is the NCAA Championships June 5-8 at Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin. It will mark the first time since 2004 that The University of Texas has hosted the NCAA Track & Field Championships

Saturday Longhorn NCAA Championship Qualifiers

+personal best | #wind-aided | $school-record | *won heat

Total Qualifiers: 9

Tripp Piperi (Shot Put/20.83m/68-4.25/1st)

O'Brien Wasome (Triple Jump/16.11m/52-10.25/2nd)

Sam Worley (1500m/3:40.89/2nd)

Teahna Daniels (200m/22.51$+/3rd)

Micaiah Harris (200m/20.21$+/3rd*)

4x100m Relay (Kennedy Simon, Teahna Daniels, Zola Golden, Kynnedy Flannel/43.70/4th)

4x400m Relay (Serenity Douglas, Kennedy Simon, Mariam Abdul-Rashid, Zola Golden/3:34.40/7th)

Georgia Wahl (Triple Jump/12.87m/42-2.75/11th)

Kynnedy Flannel (200m/23.08/11th)