The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Indoor Championships
No. 5/1 TF wins eight events at Big 12 Indoor Championships
02.25.2023 | Track & Field / Cross Country
Women finish second and the men place third in Lubbock.
LUBBOCK, Texas – The No. 5/1 Texas track and field program championed eight events on the final day of the Big 12 Indoor Championships. The No. 1 women finished as the runner-up with 136.5 points, while the No. 5 men finished with 105 points in third place.
Julien Alfred continued her historic season breaking the seven-second barrier in the 60m dash by winning the event for the second time in her career with a time of 6.97. It's the third time this season Alfred has broken her own NCAA collegiate record, while becoming the eighth-fastest person in history and the lone collegian to ever run under seven seconds. She went on to win the shorts sprints double with the UT program record time of 22.26 in the 200m dash. The time ranks as the third-fastest time in collegiate history and set both the meet and facility record after defending her 2022 title. Alfred alone totaled 20 points for the Longhorns.
Senior Ezinne Abba added six points in the 60 with her personal-best time of 7.17 and three in the 200 with a time of 23.11. The 60m time moved her up to No. 5 on the Texas All-Time performer list. Fellow senior Lanae-Tava Thomas was sixth in the 60 running at 7.31 and runner-up to Alfred in the 200 with her personal-best time of 22.63. Thomas' time now ranks as the No. 6 performer on the UT All-Time list. Kevona Davis was the fourth Longhorn to also score in both events after a seventh-place finish in the 60 (7.33) and a fourth-place finish in the 200 (22.76). The three Longhorns tallied 27 points after two events.
Rhasidat Adeleke went on to record a then-collegiate record in the 400m, breaking her own Texas record with a winning time of 50.33.Talitha Diggs of Florida claimed the NCAA record 90 minutes later with a time of 50.14. Adeleke's time also ranks as the Ireland National record and the new meet record. Kennedy Simon finished as the runner-up with her time of 51.01, improving her No. 4 time on the Texas All-Time list.
Rachel Helbling made it four-straight years the Longhorns have won the 600-yard dash after posting a time of 1:18.41. The grad-transfer also posted the fastest time in the prelims on her way to her first Big 12 gold medal.
Senior Valery Tobias made the 1000m look easy with her winning time of 2:43.85. The time set the new meet and facility record and was just the third time in school history the Longhorns have won the event. Amity Ebarb finished eighth with her time of 2:49.55, helping the Longhorns add 12 points from the 1000.
Marilyn Nwora was the female final Longhorn to champion an event after posting a personal-best throw of 17.33m (56-10.25) to move to the No. 3 spot on the Texas All-Time Performer List. Saturday's performance was her first Big 12 gold medal.
Trinity Tomlinson earned her best performance at a conference meet finishing as the runner-up in the high jump clearing 1.76m, while Claire Moreau finished tied for fifth with a clearance of 1.72m. The pair totaled 12.5 points while Emelia Chatfield tallied four points with her fifth-place performance in the 60m hurdles with a time of 8.29.
The women's final points were scored by the 4x400 team of Dejanae Oakley, Helbling, Brooke Jaworski and Chatfield's third-place finish with a time of 3:36.04. Jaworski also added an individual third-place finish in the 800m (2:06.38).
The men's team were led by Crayton Carrozza and Yusuf Bizimana and their individual event wins.
Carrozza defended his 2022 Big 12 800m title with his winning time of 1:48.52 and also finished third in the mile with his time of 3:59.77 just an hour before. Carrozza totaled 16 points for the Longhorns. Bizimana won the 600-yard with the third-fastest time in NCAA history at 1:08.00 and moved to No. 3 on the Texas all-time list.
Marcellus Moore and Nolton Shelvin each reached the finals in the 60m and 200m, adding 14 team points. Moore finished fifth in the 60 with his time of 6.59 and fourth in the 200 at 20.67. Both times rank in the top-5 performances in Texas history. Shelvin's sixth-place finish in the 60 (6.61) improved his overall No. 4 UT performer time and seventh-place finish in the 200 (21.11) concluded the shorts sprints for Texas.
Brian Herron added four points from the 400 final with his time of 46.23, moving up to the No. 5 All-Time performer spot. Cruz Gomez also recorded a fifth-place finish with his time of 2:22.26 in the 1000m.
With his second-best throw of the season, Patrick Piperi added six points off a throw of 19.17m in the men's shot put.
A pair of Longhorns added seven team points from the 3000m run after Isaac Alonzo finished fifth with his time of 8:12.22 and Rodger Rivera finished sixth at 8:12.89. Despite getting injured in the 200m prelims, Kendrick Smallwood finished seventh in the 60m hurdles to add two team points, while Sam Hurley finished eighth in the high jump clearing 2.07m and Stacy Brown added the final two points in the triple jump with a jump of 15.60m.
Players Mentioned
