Texas turned in a strong second place showing this weekend at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
The Longhorns scored 133.5 points overall, falling just behind defending Big 12 Indoor Champions Texas A&M.
Dominating performances helped the Texas men’s track and field team clinch a first place spot following the first day of the Big 12 Championships.
On Friday, the final jumps for juniors Maston Wallace and Marquise Goodwin sealed victories in their signature events. Pole vaulter Wallace earned his first indoor Big 12 Championship, matching a career best jump of 17-8.5. After knocking off the bar on his first two tries, his final jump sent him soaring over the top, ousting Texas Tech’s Kyal Meyers for the title. Goodwin repeated as the indoor long jump champion after winning with a final leap of 7.74 meters. His final jump was the deciding factor in edging him from second to first place, and ahead of Kansas State’s Mantas Silkauskas.
Adding to the excitement was a gritty performance by C.J Jessett in the 4000-meter distance relay. Jessett passed several runners on the last lap just strides before the finish line to give Texas a second place finish in the event. Jesset, along with teammates John McNamara, Dereck Dreyer and Kevin Rayes clocked in a time of 9:46.03.
Texas was outdueled in the second day of competition, but still placed well.
Sophomore Mark Jackson, freshman Ryan Crouser and freshman Petter Olson medaled, becoming Big 12 Champions. Jackson won the triple jump with a mark of 15.31 meters, the first Longhorn to win since Chris Hercules in 1999. Crouser was in second place going into his final throw, until his heave of 19.9 meters made him Texas’ first Big 12 Champion in the shot put. During his freshman career, he shattered a 30-year-old school record with a throw of 20.29 meters at the Razorback Invitational, and has now become just the third freshman in Big 12 history to win this event.
Texas also claimed second, third and fifth place in the shot put, qualifying a total of three throwers for the NCAA Championships, with throws by Hayden Baillio, Jacob Thormaehlen and Will Spence.
Entering the heptathlon competition on Saturday, Olson held a big lead and only continued to distance himself from his competitors. He won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.21, the pole vault with a height 4.90 meters and finished second in the 1000-meter run. Olson earned the gold in the event, tallying a winning total of 5,745 points.
In the 60-meter hurdles, defending indoor champion and Jamaica native Keiron Stewart came in second with a matched season best time of 7.77.
