The Texas track and field team made its debut at the 92nd Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in their home stadium on Wednesday and Thursday, with the women posting two wins and 13 personal records overall.
Texas’ opening day of competition was highlighted by heptathlete Ashtin Zamzow’s performace, who set a personal record in all four of her events on Wednesday. After competing in her final three events Thursday, the senior set a school record and claimed victory in the event with a total of 6,148 points.
After finishing third in the heptathlon at the NCAA Indoor National Championships earlier this month, Zamzow contributes her success to the momentum she carried from that meet.
“I think it’s more of a confidence thing, especially coming off of (the NCAA) Indoors (championship meet),” Zamzow said. “I’m good and I just need to trust that I’m capable of better. I did that coming out here and was like, ‘Okay, I just need to put up a good score for qualifiers,’ and it turned out to be better than that, so I’m happy and confident with that.”
As the competition wore on, the Longhorns continued to shine at home in the distance events.
In the 1,500-meter race, Claudine Blancaflor led the pack for most of the race before being barely edged out to finish second and set a personal record of 4:35.85 seconds. Jordan Welborn’s 4:41.57-second time gave her an eighth place finish in the event, and Gabby Crank finished fifth overall in the 800-meter with a time of 2:07.29 seconds.
The evening also saw a phenomenal team effort by the women in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. After seven laps over hurdles and through water barriers, Longhorns Anna McDonald, Meghan Lloyd and Abby Guidry swept first, second and third place, respectively.
Thursday was brought to a close with the 5,000-meter race, where Madeline Vondra finished fifth overall with a time of 17:07.57 seconds, and teammates Marissa Flournoy and Beth Ramos finished 14th and 16th. Although their race didn’t yield ideal results, Flournoy was motivated by the energy in their home stadium.
“It’s the best feeling ever, the best energy,” Flournoy said. “I love putting on this uniform and being able to go out and compete hard. We’re trying to be a top-five program in the NCAA, so we have a lot of work to do, but I really think this team can do it this year.”
