By Steve Lansdale
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas men’s and women’s track and field teams closed out their regular season Saturday by winning the Longhorn Invitational.
“It’s great to see the fruits of labor coming into effect,” Texas head coach Mario Sategna said. “They have all been working hard. Now we start peaking out as we get ready for conference and regionals. I think yesterday and today we’re starting to see that come into play. To do that at home is even better. This helps all around building confidence heading into the championship season.”
The Longhorns won [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]six men’s events and three women’s events to win the overall team scoring over teams like Michigan, Stanford, Indiana and UTSA. The men scored 187 and the women combined for 141, holding off Minnesota’s 134.
“I’m extremely pleased. It was better than expected,” Sategna said. “I knew we would see some good things, but I think yesterday and today we saw some things that bode well for use heading into the championship season.”
Among the highlights:
Senior Aldrich Bailey, Jr., beat a field of professional runners in the 200 meters, crossing the line first in 19.99, a time that was recorded as being wind-aided because of a tailwind measured at 4.3 meters per second. Because of the wind-aided designation, Bailey’s time will not count toward qualification for the NCAA West Preliminary Rounds.
But Bailey already has qualified for the regional meet, prompting UT assistant coach Zach Glavash to point out that the conditions were irrelevant in the outcome of the event.
“(Bailey) put a lot together,” Glavash said. “Obviously, it was a little windy, but I think what speaks volumes is the caliber of the athlete that was in the field that he did beat. Everybody was either professional Nike or Adidas, and he lined up against them and he went to war against them. He ran his race and he was storming that last 100 meters. It was fun to watch.”
Redshirt sophomore Brian Peterson picked up his second consecutive win in the discus after he won the event with a throw of 56.51 meters (185 feet, 4 inches), the third-longest by any thrower in the Big 12 this year. Junior Alan Zapalac set two new personal bests in the event, topping out at 54.22 meters (177 feet, 11 inches) and now ranks fourth among Big 12 throwers.
“I think it’s really good that Brian was able to come out in a good field and get the win,” assistant coach Ty Seven said. “He left the meet a little disappointed because he felt he could have thrown farther. Last week, we took the three-throw approach to see if he could throw 56 meters to mimic regionals, and he fell short. It took until his sixth throw to do it. This morning, he did it within the first three throws. I thought that was pretty impressive.
On the women’s side, freshman Elena Bruckner won the shot put, knocking off Stanford’s Lena Giger — who ranks 14th in the nation — in the process. While winning the event, Bruckner established a new personal record with a throw of 16.67 meters (54 feet, 8-1/4 inches). The throw put Bruckner among the top 20 in the country this year, and ranks her second in the Big 12. Junior Lauryn Caldwell finished fourth even the event, setting a new PR of her own with a toss of 15.28 meters (50 feet, 1-3/4 inches) and climbing to seventh among all Big 12 throwers this season.
Redshirt junior Spencer McCloud won the high jump with a leap of 2.14 meters, tying the best jump of his life and entrenching himself among the top five in the Big 12 in the event this season.
Sophomore Charles Mills won the 1,500 in 3:56.57.
Freshman Destiny Collins picked up her first college win by winning the 3,000 in 10:00.91, while teammate Abigail Hirst finished fourth in the event in 10:29.37.
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