The Longhorns moved up in the national rankings to No. 13 after a strong performance in New York at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational. This upcoming weekend, the men’s team will split up.

Friday, the sprinters and field team head to Albuquerque, N.M., to compete in the Don Kirby Invitational. On Saturday, the distance runners will be in Seattle, Wash., for the Husky Classic.

In Albuquerque, the Longhorns face a tough test against No. 4 Texas Tech, No. 3 Stanford and No. 16 Ohio State.
This should not phase the Longhorns because of their wealth of talent that includes sophomores Keiron Stewart and Marquise Goodwin.

Stewart, with a time of 7.68 in the 60-meter hurdles, automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships last weekend. Meanwhile, Goodwin, who also plays wide receiver for the football team, set a UT record in the long jump to win the Razorback Invitational.

The distance runners are looking to improve upon an already solid performance at the Razorback Invitational. With two weeks off, they took advantage of the time for rest and work.

Ryan Dohner, the surprising freshman who placed seventh on UT’s all-time 3,000-meter performers list in Arkansas, remains rested and excited to elevate his game even further.

“I feel rested but not rusty,” he said. “We are just doing our normal workouts to prepare. Our normal workouts are sometimes even harder than a race.”

The track used at the Husky Classic is a little different than that of standard indoor tracks. For instance, the track itself is longer at 300m. This helps the runners utilize their speed rather than worry about turning, an aspect the distance runners want to take advantage of.

“It is longer than a regular indoor track, but it’s not anything we’re not use to,” Dohner said. “The times for this race should be a lot faster. I am going for the school record.”