The ninth-ranked Longhorns are gearing up for competition at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, Calif., after a long but productive week of hosting the Texas Relays.
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association ranked Texas No. 14 last week, but the team jumped into the top 10 for the first time of the outdoor season Tuesday.
This upcoming weekend should be another interesting one, as the Longhorn athletes look to continue their climb in the polls.
In the men’s 100-meter dash, Marquise Goodwin, Trevante Rhodes, Alex Williams and D.J. Monroe are set to compete in an attempt to break the meet record of 9.86 seconds, set by Ato Boldon in 1998.
Sophomore Keiron Stewart will also be looking to improve on his times after he set the school record in the 110-meter hurdles at the Texas-Arkansas-UCLA tri-meet with a time of 13.44 on March 25. Stewart currently holds the indoor and outdoor short-hurdle records at UT.
Stewart is also a part of the talented 1,600-meter relay team, along with Isaac Murphy, Andre Thomas and Danzell Fortson.
Decathletes Kenny Greaves, Murphy and Jake Wohlford are back in action after a much improved showing at the Texas Relays. Murphy and Greaves posted personal bests in eight and seven, respectively, of the 10 events last week. Wohlford, a freshman, won the 110-meter hurdles in the Relays decathlon.
While the athletes are coming off an exhaustive experience at the Texas Relays, as much of an experience as a race, the Mt. SAC Relays have an equally important history.
They bring in an estimated 9,000 competitors every year, according to mtsacrelays.com. Because of the famous elite division and amount of international high school students that attend, the organizers have adopted the slogan “Where the world’s best athletes compete.”
The Mt. SAC Relays also sponsor a novel 10,000-meter event. Texas sophomore Rory Tunningley will compete in what is the longest distance standard track event. This tedious race, which is a little over six miles long, has only had one American ever win the gold medal in the Olympic history and is not usually employed in U.S. meets.
