The Texas Longhorns continued to impress the national competition at both the Tyson Invitational and Husky Classic this weekend.
The neck and neck battle between freshman Teahna Daniels and senior Morolake Akinosun continued in the 60 meters at the Tyson Invitational. Daniels came out on top in second place at 7.23 seconds after trailing in the preliminary rounds to Akinosun, who took fourth overall at 7.26 seconds.
The women’s 4×400 meter relay of junior Chrisann Gordon, Akinosun, sophomore Ariel Jones and senior Courtney Okolo dominated the competition with a time of 3:27.04, good enough for No. 4 in NCAA history. Okolo led the relay with a 50.59 second split, faster than her 50.77 split at the Power Five Invitational earlier this year.
At the Husky Classic, sophomore pole vaulter Kally Long put herself in position to qualify for the NCAA championships in March with a mark of 4.30 meters, taking fourth overall.
After already breaking the school record once this year, the men’s 4×400 meter relay of senior Zack Bilderback and juniors Chris Irvin, Byron Robinson and AJ Bailey Jr. broke their current record by almost 2 full seconds with a time of 3:04.41 — 13th best in NCAA history.
Robinson also finished third in the men’s invitational 400 meters with a time of 46.27 seconds, putting him at No. 3 in the NCAA. On the field, the men continued to impress with freshman long jumper Steffin McCarter finishing second with a jump of 7.69 meters, ranking him as No. 2 overall in the Big 12 Conference going into the conference championship in two weeks.
At the Husky Classic, senior Ryan Crouser threw a mark of 21.28 meters in the shot put to reclaim his top spot in the NCAA this season. Senior Reese Watson cleared 5.43 meters to finish second in pole vault, which puts him in position to qualify for the NCAA Championships with the No. 7 overall mark in the nation.
The Longhorns will take next weekend off and return to action Feb. 26 and 27 for the Big 12 championships in Ames, Iowa.