Forty Acres Insider: February 24

Chris Del Conte head shot 2025

Longhorn Nation,

LIGHT THE TOWER — Men's AND Women's Swimming and Diving are SEC Champions once again as our Longhorns continue stacking hardware and statement wins across the board. The Pride and Winning Tradition of The University of Texas is on full display, y'all. The weekend started with a 5-0 Longhorn Friday, included TWO SEC titles from Swimming and Diving, and was capped by a Senior Day and alumni celebration to remember as Women's Basketball delivered a 50-point stampede of Mississippi State, 92-42, on Sunday. Along the way, Baseball swept Michigan State and is 7-0 on the year. Softball went west to Cali, posted a 5-0 weekend and has now won 12-straight. Beach Volleyball made waves in Hawaii with four ranked wins — three over top-10 opponents. Men's Tennis got a pair of SEC road wins including a 4-3 victory at No. 10 Mississippi State on Monday. And let's not forget how the week was launched — Coach Berque and Men's Tennis thrilling us with a run to the ITA Indoors National Championship, raising the indoor title trophy for the first time in program history. What. A. Ride. Dominance. Tradition. Texas Fight! And with the dramatic pause of legendary radio voice Paul Harvey … "now you know, the rest of the story." As we hit the final week of February, the Tale of the Texas Stampede rolls on. More games. More meets. More matches. More opportunities to raise trophies. Horns Up. Let's Hook 'Em, my friends!

CHAMPS² 🤘🏆#HookEm pic.twitter.com/Ilxrbp8FpP
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) February 22, 2026

THE STANDARD REMAINS THE STANDARD! For Swimming and Diving, it was back-to-back SEC Championships, it was back-to-back SEC Championships in dominant, wire-to-wire fashion. No. 1-ranked men. No. 3-ranked women. Leading the field from start to finish. That's how dynasties operate. For the women, it's now 14-for-14 in 14 seasons under Coach Capitani — 14-straight conference titles. Our Horns racked up 1,413.5 points, well clear of host Tennessee (1,086). The meet was powered by seven gold medals and 21 total podium finishes (10 silver/4 bronze) in relay and individual events. On the men's side, Coach Bowman captured his second SEC crown while extending one of the most remarkable streaks in collegiate athletics: 47 consecutive men's conference championships. The men totaled 1,449.5 points, outpacing Florida (1,292) and fueled by nine gold medals and 20 total podium finishes (7 silver/4 bronze) among the relay and individual events. Count it up: 41 SEC Championship medals in all (16 Gold/17 Silver/8 Bronze). That's not just winning — that's a program built on an unwavering standard. The Pride and Winning Tradition of The University of Texas in full force. Now, it's time to take dead aim on Atlanta and the NCAA Championship. Same mission. Same standard. Texas Fight as the 2025 NCAA runner-up women set to compete on March 18-21 and the defending NCAA Champion men on March 25-28.

Back-to-Back Men's AND Women's SEC Swimming & Diving Championships🏆🏆

14-straight women's conference titles for Carol Capitani and Texas🤘🏻

Bob Bowman secures 2nd men's SEC crown, and Horns extend one of most remarkable runs in collegiate sports: 47-straight conference titles🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/zxTNM65cja
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) February 22, 2026

SPECIAL DAY AT MOODY CENTER. Sunday was one to remember for Women's Basketball — a 92-42 statement win over Mississippi State and a celebration worthy of the moment. We honored five incredible seniors — Rori Harmon, Sarah Graves, Kyla Oldacre, Ashton Judd and Teya Sidberry — and what a way for them to take the floor one more time at home. Fifty-point stampede. Pure dominance. It was also Alumni Weekend, highlighted by a special tribute to Longhorn Legend Coach Conradt and the 40th Anniversary of the 1986 National Championship team (catch the full story on LHN). That historic squad — led by NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Clarissa Davis — became the first women's basketball national champion to finish undefeated, rolling to a 34-0 record and the Natty. Absolute greatness. Sunday's show followed an emphatic 93-62 win at Arkansas on Thursday — momentum building at just the right time. Up next: No. 23 Georgia on Thursday at Moody (9 p.m. CT/SEC Network) before traveling to No. 24 Alabama on Sunday (11 a.m. CT/SEC Network). Thursday is the final regular-season game at Moody — and our annual 10k fans for $10,000 donated to the Neighborhood Longhorns Program. Let's pack The Mood one more time. Horns Up. Texas Fight!

our seniors 🥹#HookEm pic.twitter.com/6BitJSwG7b
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 22, 2026

SOFTBALL AND BASEBALL KEPT ON KEEPIN' ON last week and are back at it this week. UFCU Disch-Falk Field may have been a bit chilly this weekend but that didn't affect y'all helping our Horns heat it up. It was another series sweep for Coach Schloss as our No. 3-ranked squad outscored Michigan State 15-2 over the three games, including a 4-0 Sunday shutout, to improve to 7-0 this season. It's back to UFCU Disch-Falk Field for a Tuesday nightery with UTRGV tonight (6:30 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) before traveling to Houston and Daikin Park to face a strong field in the BRUCE BOLT College Classic on Friday-Sunday. Meanwhile, Coach White and No. 3 Softball made it 12-in-a-row with five wins in Cali last weekend. The victorious weekend included three wins over top-16 teams, knocking off host and No. 10 Stanford in a 4-3 thriller as well as No. 16 Arizona twice by identical 12-2 scores. Our 14-1 Horns return home this week with a mid-week contest against Southeastern Louisiana on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT/SEC Network+) followed by the Longhorn Invitational on Friday-Sunday at Red & Charline McCombs Field. After that it's on to SEC play as we'll open league action the following week at South Carolina. Look forward to seeing you at McCombs!

We got the week off to a great start for Coach Miller and Men's Basketball with a FIFTH-STRAIGHT SEC VICTORY, knocking off LSU in front of a raucous crowd on Tuesday. Saturday was a hard-fought loss at Georgia, so now it's time to dust ourselves off and get right back at it with No. 7 and the defending National Champs Florida in the ATX on Wednesday (6 p.m. CT/ESPN2). Plan accordingly to beat traffic and arrive at The Mood early, so get that Burnt Orange & White best and your Texas Fight ready for that one as we need a packed house at Moody Center. Then it's back to the road as our Horns are off to Texas A&M for a Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown on Saturday (3 p.m. CT/ESPN2). There's two more weeks and just two home games (the other: March 7 vs. Oklahoma/7:30 p.m. CT) left in the regular season — let's get our Horns Up and get ready to cheer our hearts out!

Coach Metzger and No. 6 Beach Volleyball got their season underway in Hawaii last week and had quite the showing — returning with FOUR RANKED WINS, including a trio of top-10 triumphs. After gritty 3-2 wins over No. 7 Loyola Marymount, No. 9 Cal and tourney host No. 16 Hawaii, the thrill of victory capped the weekend as our Horns put on their best Texas Fight in a 3-2 win over No. 4 USC. You can catch the squad in action this week as we'll host the Orange-White Scrimmage on Saturday (11 a.m. CT) at Wright-Whitaker Sports Complex, so come on out and cheer on your Horns!

THE STORY CONTINUES THIS WEEK as Coach Flo and Track and Field head to College Station for the SEC Indoor Championships. Men's and Women's Basketball are in action — home and away — as they hit the stretch run of their regular seasons. Softball hosts a weekend full of games at Red & Charline McCombs Field, while Baseball is on the road in tourney competition of their own. Men's and Women's Tennis turn their focus to SEC dual-match play and riding a string of outstanding success already this season, Men's Golf heads to Vegas at the always highly competitive Southern Highlands Collegiate.

solid lineup of action this week🤘 #HookEm pic.twitter.com/1PYGISgqxN
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) February 23, 2026

Hey, and while I've got you, with SPRING FOOTBALL RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER, Coach Sark took some time to talk about the team and the state of the program in a press conference on Monday (available now on the FREE LHN app). He shared a lot of great information, updates, and nuggets on our Longhorns.

Men's Tennis wins its first ever ITA Indoors National Championship!
Folks, I think Coach Berque would be the first to tell you that our Men's Tennis season didn't quite start out the way the team envisioned. With injuries and a lot of news faces, there were some early season moments where they didn't have quite enough to put over one more win. Now, when you take into account that after those happened the three opponents they came up short to were then-ranked Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the nation, all of a sudden that might not be the worst thing in the world, and Coach Berque even told them that. But to the team's credit, they didn't accept that as good enough. They regrouped, rededicated and, boy oh boy, did they ever resurge! For those of you not familiar, the ITA Indoors is a tournament set up very similarly to the NCAAs, but it just so happens to be inside in the middle of the season. After two opening rounds, 16 teams go to the championship sites split up into two locations, which this year for the men happened to be in Waco and Dallas. Then the semifinalists meet up in Dallas. With such a Texas-centric tournament, like we told you about last week, it was only fitting that our Horns faced and beat not one, not two, but THREE IN-STATE FOES who are some of our biggest rivals in tennis in No. 8 Texas A&M, No. 5 TCU and No. 19 Baylor (who shot up to No. 6 this week). That set up a tilt with one of the big dogs of college tennis, but especially indoors, in the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes, who happened to be one of our previous three losses. It was an epic match, and when doubles went to not one, not two, but three tiebreakers, and our guys used their Texas Fight to fend off match points on not one, not two, but all three courts to win the point, the stage was set for a magical evening. Our rock at the top of the lineup and MOP in senior Sebastian Gorzny got us going in singles. Then Lucas "La Niche" Marionneau fired us all up by giving us the lead and putting us one point from a win before big Kalin Ivanovski clinched that 4-2 win for the title and took off sprinting with a soccer style shirt takeoff celebration worthy of the World Cup. Speaking of celebrations, if you've watched the team this year you may have seen them putting their arms over their heads after wins. Well, that's where La Niche comes in – young Lucas explained that means "doghouse" in French, and do we ever have some dogs on this team! It was such a great night on the campus of SMU, and the stars were out with Dirk Nowitzki and tennis great John Isner in the house cheering on our guys and even throwing up the Horns after the match! So congrats to Coach Berque and the squad for yet another awesome program milestone! Oh, and by the way, they turned right back around and went on the road for two wins to start SEC play against Alabama, 6-1, and another top-10 team in Mississippi State, which was a 4-3 thriller! They've got one more road match against South Carolina and they'll finally be back to the Texas Tennis Center on March 1 against Georgia!

Your 2026 ITA Indoors National Champions!!! 🏆#HookEm 🤘🎾 | @ITA_Tennis pic.twitter.com/rMoA2hiXjA
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) February 18, 2026

Less than two weeks until the Football Season Ticket Renewal Deadline!
The countdown is on as we're LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AWAY from the 2026 Texas Football Season Ticket Renewal Deadline (Thursday, March 5 at 4 p.m. CT). To those of you who have already locked in your seats for the fall, thank you so much! Your loyalty and passion are the heartbeat of our gamedays, and we can't wait to welcome you back to Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium for another legendary season on the Forty Acres. If you still need to renew your season tickets, you can do so online by logging in to your account. A friendly reminder that when you renew your season tickets, you can either pay for them in full at the time of renewal or take advantage of our convenient payment plan, with 25% installments due at renewal and again on May 4, June 4, and July 6, respectively. You can also purchase seatbacks for your seats at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium when you renew.

Interested in football season tickets? Join the waitlist by March 5!
The demand to be part of Saturdays at DKR has never been stronger. More than 14,000 fans have already secured their spot on the 2026 Texas Football Season Ticket Waitlist, a powerful testament to the momentum around our program. If you're interested in becoming a season ticket holder, now is the time to act by joining the waitlist TODAY! Joining the waitlist is completely free, but to be eligible to come off the list and receive the opportunity to purchase season tickets later this spring, you must be a 2026 Longhorn Foundation donor by Thursday, March 5.

Limited tickets remain for Women's Basketball's $10K for 10K game this Thursday!
First, a huge shoutout to Longhorn Nation! The energy you brought to The Mood was the driving force behind our 92-42 victory over Mississippi State on Sunday. Your passion and dedication all season long has helped us create one of the best home court advantages in all of college basketball, and that's now translated into 41 consecutive home wins. And it was incredible celebrating such an amazing senior class following the game.

Now we need you to bring that Texas Fight one more time this regular season as the Horns host Georgia on Thursday (9 p.m. CT). It's our annual $10K for 10K game where Coach Schaefer has pledged that if 10,000 fans attend the game, he'll donate $10,000 to the Neighborhood Longhorns Program. There are only a limited number of tickets remaining, so scoop those up today. Not only will you get to see our No. 4-ranked Longhorns in their final regular season home game, but your attendance will make a significant impact on the educational and life experiences for so many children in our Central Texas community. Get those tickets here!

10K fans at Moody Center this Thursday means $10,000 donated to the Neighborhood Longhorns Program - get your tickets for Texas vs. Georgia at https://t.co/0Rj28RB2HS - see y'all there!🎟️🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/TdJWuKwn0k
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 20, 2026

Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte

P.S. — What a beautiful site!

Home in Austin! 🏆#HookEm 🤘🎾 | #ITAIndoors pic.twitter.com/p9B7f5lyB5
— Texas Men's Tennis (@TexasMTN) February 19, 2026

P.S. — NFL Combine week is here — good luck to our Longhorns!

NFL Combine week is here 🤘 pic.twitter.com/3RfdxS4EO0
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) February 23, 2026

P.S. — Stacking those wins!

HORNS WIN 🤘🏻
Stacking those Ws on Sunday and putting a bow on another successful weekend for our Longhorns!

🔸Swimming & Diving: SEC Champs x2 🏆🏆
🔸Baseball: Series Sweep
🔸Softball: 5-0 & 12-Straight Wins
🔸Beach VB: 3 Top-10 Wins
🔸Women's Basketball: Senior Day Victory pic.twitter.com/1TXfudL74b
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) February 22, 2026

P.S. — Congrats to one of the finest student-athletes in the land, Rex Maurer — in the classroom and the pool!

Congratulations to @TexasMSD's Rex Maurer, the 2026 #SECSD Scholar-Athlete of the Year! 🤘#SECChampionship x @SECAcademics pic.twitter.com/xclHXWyXtF
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) February 20, 2026

Hubert Kos won the Commissioner's Cup Trophy after scoring 92 points for the Longhorns 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/zPMPCFGKxA
— Texas Men's Swimming & Diving (@TexasMSD) February 22, 2026

P.S. — The pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas: honoring our 1986 National Champions and Alumni Weekend was a huge success!

honored to recognize our program alumni and 1986 Perfect Season Championship team at today's game 🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/OyD0n0uk6X
— Texas Women's Basketball (@TexasWBB) February 22, 2026

P.S. — The MOC with the shoutout — appreciate the support, my friend!

woke up champs @texasmtn 😤🏆🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/W03KocC3he
— Texas Longhorns (@TexasLonghorns) February 18, 2026

P.S. — A fantastic Longhorn Friday it was!

5-0 Friday🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻@TexasBeachVB takes down a pair of top-10 opponents in Hawaii@TexasSoftball two wins over top-16 ranked teams in Cali@TexasBaseball series opening win at UFCU Disch-Falk Field@TexasMSD & @TexasWSD head into final day leading the field at SEC Championships pic.twitter.com/QD9LaUNnL5
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) February 21, 2026

P.S. — Check out the latest Road to Gameday on the LHN app!

Road to Gameday featuring women's golf is now streaming on the LHN app 🤘🏌️‍♀️

➡️https://t.co/dZPuKsaf6v #HookEm | @stdavidshealthcare pic.twitter.com/trLyyOFcnG
— LHN (Longhorn Network) (@LonghornNetwork) February 23, 2026

HEADLINES:

No. 3 Baseball posts first shutout of season to complete sweep of Michigan State:

No. 4 Women's Basketball prevails on Senior Day over Mississippi State, 92-42:

No. 3 Softball run-rules No. 16 Arizona for 12th consecutive win:

No. 3 Softball stretches win streak to 11 after sweeping Boise State and Santa Clara:

Robbins hits for cycle in No. 3 Baseball's 3-1 win over Michigan State:

Video: Vic Schaefer, Sarah Graves media availability (Feb. 20):

Mendoza, Riojas propel No. 3 Baseball to 8-1 win over Michigan State:

No. 6 Beach Volleyball takes down No. 9 Cal and No. 7 LMU at Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Beach Classic:

No. 3 Women's Swimming and Diving in first after day five of SEC Championships:

No. 3 Softball opens DeMarini Classic with sweep over No. 10 Stanford and No. 16 Arizona:

No. 1 Men's Swimming and Diving in the lead after day five of SEC Championship: