The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Corky Classic
Track and Field opens 2021 Indoor season at Corky Classic
01.16.2021 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Three Longhorns won individual events, while others posted personal-bests and strong finishes in Lubbock.
LUBBOCK, Texas – The Texas track and field team opened its 2021 Indoor season on Saturday with a strong showing at the Corky Classic. The Longhorns won three individual events in their season opener.
Tripp Piperi won the men's shot put on Saturday with a massive 20.61m/67-7.5 throw on his third attempt. Piperi, the 2019 NCAA Outdoor national champion in the event, cleared the 20-meter mark on all five of his successful throws, and his best effort set a facility record that had stood since 2004. It was also nearly three meters further than any other competitor in the field this week.
Charles Brockman III was the second of the UT men to top the podium in an individual event at the Corky Classic, as he won the 400-meter competition with a time of 48.60. It was only the second time Brockman has run the quarter-mile race individually at Texas. He previously did so at last year's Big 12 Indoor Championships, where he finished 14th in the preliminary round.
Kynnedy Flannel was the Longhorns' third winner at the Corky Classic, as she nearly matched her collegiate-best en route to victory in the 60-meter dash. Flannel clocked a 7.27 in the event, one-hundredth of a second off her current best time at UT. She has finished third in the 60-meter dash at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in each of the past two seasons, including as a freshman in 2019 when she clocked a 7.27 in the final at the conference meet.
In addition, a number of Longhorns added themselves to the program's record book for their performances in Lubbock. Piperi's mark, the fourth-best of his indoor career, ranks as the No. 14 performance overall in the indoor shot put by a Longhorn. The Men's 4x400-meter relay team clocked a 3:09.87 to record the 24th-fastest time in the event by a UT team. On the women's side, freshman Kiana Lowery threw the weight 16.88m/55-5.75 to become the fifth-best performer indoors on UT record (records kept since 1998 for the event), while Tara Davis' 6.24m/20-5.75 effort in the long jump made her the No. 9 performer in school history in the event.
The Longhorns are slated to return to competition next Friday, Jan. 22, when they take part in the Woo Pig Classic, hosted by the University of Arkansas at the Randal Tyson Track Center. It will be the first of two trips to Fayetteville for UT during the Indoor campaign prior to Arkansas hosting the 2021 NCAA Indoor Championships in March.
Players Mentioned
