LUBBOCK, Texas – For the second consecutive season, and the fifth time in the last six years, the Texas Track & Field women won the Big 12 Conference Indoor Championship. The Longhorns scored 128 points to blow past the host, Texas Tech, who scored 108.5 points. On the men’s side, the Longhorns finished fifth with 69.5 points.
THE WOMEN
• Two Longhorns won Big 12 titles on Saturday to lead the way for the Longhorns. Senior Teahna Daniels ran 7.22 in the 60m to win the title while freshman Kynnedy Flannel won the 200m crown in 22.89.
• The Horns were dominant in the sprints, scoring 20 team points in the 60m and 15 in the 200m. In addition to Daniels, Flannel took third in the 60 and freshman Julien Alfred took fifth. In the 200m, Serenity Douglas took fourth in addition to Flannel’s victory.
• In the 400m, the Horns scored eight points. Douglas finished third with a personal best of 53.06, while freshman Kennedy Simon took seventh.
• Gabby Crank ran the No. 3 time in school history in the 800m (2:04.92) to take second. She was joined on the podium by freshman Valery Tobias, who took seventh with a PR of 2:12.03.
• Mariam Abdul-Rashid took second in the 60m hurdles with a new career-best 8.20, while sophomore Sophia Falco hit a huge PR of 13.3m/43-1 in the triple jump to also take second.
• Alex Cruz scored nine points on Saturday, running in the 1000m, mile and 3000m. She finished third in the mile and sixth in the 1000m, before just missing the podium with a ninth-place finish in the 3k.
• A day after taking second in the weight throw, Elena Bruckner returned to finish third in the shot put.
• Megan Rourke scored three points in the 600 yards with a sixth-place finish, while Destiny Collins scored a point in the 3k with an eighth-place finish.
• With a victory already in hand, the women’s 4x400m Relay team took third for the Horns’ final six points on the meet.
THE MEN
• For the men, Saturday was highlighted by three individual conference champions. Sam Worley won the mile, Tripp Piperi won the shot put for the second straight season and John Burt won the crown in the 60m hurdles.
• The Horns scored 20 points in the mile, as senior Alex Rogers finished second and Charles Mills took seventh. The Horns also scored eight points in the 1000m, as freshman Brendan Hebert paced the way for a fifth-place finish.
• Burt’s win in the 60m hurdles was a huge PR, running 7.73 as he became the No. 3 performer in the event in school history.
• Terry Brown, Jr. scored seven points on Saturday, finishing fifth in the 200m and sixth in the 400m.
• Jared Dupree closed out the scoring for the Longhorns, taking a point in the high jump with a PR of 2.03m/6-8.
UP NEXT
Qualifiers for the 2019 NCAA Indoor Championships will be announced on Monday. The NCAA Indoor Championships take place in Birmingham, Ala. on March 8-9.
THEY SAID IT
Edrick Floréal: “I was really proud of the way the women came out and took care of business today. The good thing about this team is that there were a lot of people who came out of nowhere and surprised people. The story is about people like that, but a lot of the women who we expected to show up still showed up and did their duty. It takes all of them to be successful. The future of Texas Track & Field is getting that swagger back and getting that confidence back. Wearing the Texas on your shirt means something and we need to take pride in that and build off of this meet going forward.”
John Burt on his 60m Hurdles title: “Yeah, I’m really happy about that. That was always the goal, coming in here, was to come out with a championship. Not only that, but to be able to qualify for nationals, that’s something that I haven’t been able to do indoors, so this will be my first time running indoor at nationals. After my race yesterday I was real upset, but I was able to come back today and run a PR and qualifying time.”
Teahna Daniels on her 60m title: “It was a great relief. During my warm up I felt ready to run. My only goal was to run as fast as I could, get a nationals mark and score points for the team. I’m really blessed and grateful to have won, especially since this is my last indoor Big 12 Championship. I’m excited for the coming weeks because I’m running fast during the right time of the season.”
Kynnedy Flannel on winning the 200m: “I feel like I executed my race today. I was happy for my teammate (Teahna Daniels). She won (the 60m earlier in the day) and she’s a senior, she really deserved it, but I had to get the 200m. Now I’m just working towards nationals.”
Tripp Piperi on back-to-back indoor shot put titles: “I had great energy today. I had a great throw at the beginning. I was very fired up today which was great. On the last throw, it would’ve been farther if I caught it right. It’s exciting to know that I can do that and I’ve got the form right, so hopefully at Indoors I can come out and hit a big one.”
Sam Worley on winning the mile: “This week is all about tuning up before NCAAs. We were put in a lot of events to try and maximize some team points. The body’s tired, but it’ll be tired at NCAAs too. The mile was all about staying composed and focusing on race strategy and trying to execute as well as possible. Rog (Alex Rogers, who finished second in the event) is a great miler and great teammate, and I knew it was going to be a tough race no matter what. My plan was to just kick really hard the last 300m, and that’s what I tried to do and I was able to come out on top. It just gives me confidence going into NCAAs with a few more races under my belt, and knowing how to win, will carry me far.”
