The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Indoor Championships
No. 11/3 Track and Field impresses at Big 12 Championships
02.26.2021 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Kristine Blazevica’s Big 12 title in the Pentathlon was the highlight of a strong showing for the Longhorns on Friday.
LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 11/3 Texas Track and Field program shined during the opening day of the 2021 Big 12 Indoor Championships on Friday. The Longhorns are currently leading the men's team standings with 33 points (5-of-19 events scored) and sit in fourth on the women's side with 30.5 points (6-of-19 events scored). Texas' strong team effort was highlighted by freshman Kristine Blazevica winning the Big 12 pentathlon title in her first trip to the conference meet.
Blazevica, a Riga, Latvia native, finished first or second in four of the five pentathlon events. She placed second in the 60-meter hurdles (8.57) and shot put (12.38m) and then won the long jump (6.20m) and 800-meter run (2:22.10) – the final two events of the competition – to clinch her first conference crown. Blazevica finished with 4,213 points on the scoreboard, 322 points clear of second place. Her tally improves her standing as the second-best pentathlete in Texas history, behind only Ashtin Zamzow. Blazevica's pentathlon score also moved her to No. 3 in the NCAA this season.
In the long jump, Tara Davis scored eight points with a second-place finish as she jumped 6.68m/21-11, the best jump of her collegiate career, on her fourth attempt. Her mark is the second-best in the NCAA this season and second-best on Texas record. Madeline Vondra added six points with a third-place finish in the 5,000-meter run. She finished the race in 16:49.93. Olivia Buntin added a half-point by tying for eighth in the pole vault at 3.87m/12-8.25. The women's distance medley relay team – consisting of Gracie Morris, Davicia Patterson, Valery Tobias and Claudine Blancaflor – capped the night by placing third with a time of 11:40.46 to score six more points for the Longhorns.
On the men's side, Leo Neugebauer was Texas' biggest contributor with 11 points across the long jump and pole vault competitions. Neugebauer jumped a personal-best 7.68m on his final attempt to finish in second place and score eight points. He added three more points to his tally with a sixth-place effort (4.98m/16-4) in the pole vault. In addition to Neugebauer, Stacy Brown Jr. (7.56m – 4th place) and Jathan Belaire (6.98m – 8th place) helped cap a 14-point effort for the Longhorns in the long jump, and Warren Miller (5.33m – 4th place) posted a five-point effort in the pole vault. Haftu Knight and Yaseen Abdalla scored three points between them with seventh and eighth-place finishes, respectively, in the 5,000-meter run. In the final race of the day, the men's distance medley relay team – made up by Graydon Morris, Matt Nortje, Cruz Gomez and John Rice – finished second to put another eight points on the board for the Burnt Orange & White.
The Longhorns will close out the Big 12 Indoor Championships on Saturday. Big 12 Now on ESPN+ will have live coverage of Championship Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. CT. Streaming is also available through the ESPN app.
Players Mentioned
