The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
NCAA Indoor Championships
Men's Indoor Track and Field crowned NCAA Champions
03.12.2022 | Track & Field / Cross Country
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the first time in Texas history, the men's track and field program claimed the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championship. It was the first-ever national indoor or outdoor team title for the Longhorn men. UT's women's squad finished second, matching its best finish at the NCAA Indoor Championship since 2014.
It was a total team effort for Texas, who entered the meet with 26 event entries (16 Women/10 Men). Twelve of the 16 event entries scored points at the championship for the women with seven of the 10 men's event entries getting on the board at the meet. Nine of the Longhorns individual women's qualifiers and the 4x400m relay registered points, while five men's individual qualifiers and both the DMR and 4x400m scored for the men.
The men's team competition came down to the final event, with the Longhorns 4x400m relay of Willington Wright, Jonathan Jones, Jon Maas and Brian Herron finishing second with a time of 3:04.55 seconds and increasing their gap between runner-up North Carolina A&T for the National Championship. Texas was first with 47 points, followed by North Carolina A&T (36) and Tennessee (31).
Texas' surge into the lead in the team standings for good was fueled by a 13-point effort with a second and fourth-place finish in the 800m. In just his third 800m of the season, Jonathan Jones was the runnerup in that event with a time of 1:47.93, while Yusuf Bizimana took fourth-place at 1:48.09 as both earned All-American honors. Shortly after that, Tripp Piperi earned his sixth career All-American honor in the men's shot put with a season-best throw of 21.58m (70-9.75) garnering a second-place finish.
Crayton Carrozza also earned All-American honors in the mile, finishing seventh with a time of 4:08.03. He posted a time of 3:57.62 on Friday night to earn a spot in Saturday's final. That was the third-best indoor mile time in UT history. Four-time All-American Leo Neugebauer opened the day by tallying six points with a third-place finish in the heptathlon. Neugebauer registered a personal-best score of 6,148 points in the seven-event competition, moving him second-place on the UT all-time indoor heptathlon list.
Jones, who set the school record in the 800m earlier this year, earned a pair of All-American honors on the meet and tallied a team-best 10 points (800m & 4x400m relay). Carrozza (mile & DMR) and Wright (4x400m relay & DMR) each earned All-American recogntion twice at the meet.
Texas entered Saturday on the heels of a momentum-grabbing national title in the distance medley relay on Friday night. The All-American foursome of Cruz Gomez, Wright, Carrozza and Yaseen Abdalla broke the tape in 9:25.20 for the victory. It was just the second NCAA Indoor or Outdoor Championship relay victory in Texas Men's Track & Field history, with the lone other title being a DMR title at the 2008 NCAA Indoor Championship.
Saturday's men's title was the first in school history. The Longhorns finished as high as second in the team standings at the NCAA Outdoor Championship in 1987, '88 and '97 and were third at indoor nationals in 2007 and '08. All totaled, UT had previously finished in the top-three at either the NCAA Indoor (2) or Outdoor (6) Championship a total of eight times. The Horns were third at the NCAA Outdoor Championship in 1948, '86 and 2006.
The women's scoring surge on Saturday came up just short as Texas claimed the second-place trophy after recording 56 points, just 12 behind team champion Florida (68). Kentucky was third with 40 points. It matched the Longhorn women's best national indoor finish since 2014 when they were second and marked the 11th time in program history that the Horns have finished in the top-two of the NCAA Indoor Championship (6 NCAA Indoor Championships/5 NCAA Indoor runner-up finishes).
Texas scored big in the 400m with Kennedy Simon's second-place finish and Stacey Ann Williams taking third to score 14 points and earn All-American honors in that event. Simon clocked 51.46 and Williams 51.49, moving them up to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, on the Texas all-time indoor list in that event.Tyra Gittens provided eight points in finishing as the high jump runner-up with a season-best mark of 1.89m (6-2.25). That mark moved her into sole possession of the No. 4 spot on the UT all-time indoor high jump list.
Freshman Ackelia Smith earned first team All-American honor with a sixth-place finish in the triple jump at 13.75m (45-1.50), while the Horns added five team points in the women's 60m dash after the All-American duo of Julien Alfred took fifth at 7.15 seconds and Rhasidat Adeleke was eighth at 7.26 seconds. Alfred set a collegiate, meet, facility and Longhorn record of 7.04 in her semifinal heat on Friday, while Adeleke ran a personal best 7.17 in the semifinals.
Texas then added 10 points with a scoring and All-American trio in the 200-meter dash. Adeleke finished fourth in 22.88 with Kynnedy Flannel crossing the line in fifth at 23.22 and Alfred taking eighth at 23.54.
For the second time this weekend, Valery Tobias broke the Texas 800m program record and became an All-American while setting the Mexican 800m indoor record with a a fourth-place finish and a time of 2:03.39.She ran a school indoor best and Mexican indoor record 2:03.68 on Friday night, before eclipsing that mark on Saturday. The Texas women's 4x400 relay of Williams, Adeleke, Davicia Patterson and Simon added the final eight points by finishing second with a time of 3:28.60.
The Longhorns capped their Saturday with a second-place finish in the 4x400m relay. The quartet of Williams, Adeleke, Davicia Patterson and Simon passed the stick to finish in a 3:28.60, with Simon's anchor leg of 50.78 leading to a strong finish.
Adeleke accounted for three All-American honors, scored in three events and accounted for eight points on the meet in the 60m, 200m and 4x400m relay. Alfred, Simon and Williams all earned All-American honors in two events.
Two-time Big 12 pentathlon champion Kristine Blazevica got UT on the board with three points in that event on Friday night, finishing sixth and earning All-American honors for the third time in her career.
National Championship Scorers:
Men's DMR - Gomez, Carrozza, Wright, Abdalla - 1st (10 pts)
Men's Shot Put - Tripp Piperi - 2nd (8 pts)
Men's 800m - Jonathan Jones - 2nd (8 pts), Yusuf Bizimana - 4th (5 pts)
Men's Mile - Crayton Carrozza - 7th (2 pts)
Men's 4x400 - Wright, Jones, Maas, Herron - 2nd (8 pts)
Men's Heptathlon - Leo Neugebauer - 3rd (6 pts)
Women's 60m - Julien Alfred - 5th (4 pts)
Rhasidat Adeleke - 8th (1 pt)
Women's 200m - Rhasidat Adeleke - 4th (5 pts), Kynnedy Flannel - 6th (3 pts), Julien Alfred - 8th (1 pt)
Women's 400m - Kennedy Simon - 2nd (8 pts), Stacey Ann Williams - 3rd (6 pts)
Women's 800m - Valery Tobias - 4th (5 pts)
Women's 4x400 - Williams, Adeleke, Patterson, Simon - 2nd (8 pts)
Women's High Jump - Tyra Gittens - 2nd (8 pts )
Women's Triple Jump - Ackelia Smith - 6th (3 pts)
Women's Pentathlon - Kristine Blazevica - 6th (3 pts)
Players Mentioned
