Alfred’s record breaking performance leads Longhorns at New Mexico Collegiate Classic
February 6, 2023
Just two weeks after setting collegiate records at the Albuquerque Convention Center, Texas women’s sprinter Julien Alfred approached world records in the same building this past weekend. Alfred and the rest of the Texas Track & Field team competed in the New Mexico Collegiate Classic on Friday and Saturday.
Alfred broke her own record for the fastest women’s 60m dash time in NCAA history, shaving her leading time of 7.02 seconds down to 7.00 seconds flat in the finals. The St. Lucia product is on the cusp of bringing the collegiate record below seven seconds, a remarkable achievement that would pull her within a tenth of a second of the world record.
Alfred added a second-place finish in the 200m dash with a time of 22.56 seconds, just one hundredth of a second behind first.
Junior sprinter Rhasidat Adeleke won the 400m dash with a time of 50.45 seconds, a performance that ranks third in NCAA history and sets both the program and her home country of Ireland’s national record. Graduate student Kennedy Simon finished as runner-up to Adeleke with a time of 51.11 seconds, and both runners now have the top-two times in the NCAA.
Sophomore Ackelia Smith won the women’s triple jump in one jump with a distance of 13.92m, which marks as the second-best performance in Texas history, and senior Marilyn Nwora’s third-place finish in the shot put with a 16.92m effort rounded out a solid showing from the women’s team.
Longhorns dominated the men’s 400m, as Jonathan Jones, Caleb Hulbin and Chris Brinkley took home the top three spots. Jones’ winning time of 45.83 seconds was the second-fastest in the NCAA this season.
Marcellus Moore also finished second in the men’s 60m with a time of 6.60 seconds. His official time was clocked in at 6.595 seconds, just behind the 6.592 second time of Wisconsin’s Lawrence Johnson. Moore added a tenth-place finish in the 200m with an official time of 20.863.
Junior Yusuf Bizimana placed first in the 800m men’s invitational with a time of 1:46.62 seconds and senior Patrick Piperi set a personal best in the men’s shot put with a 19.49m toss en route to a third-place finish.
The Longhorns have found their stride this season and will compete Feb. 10-11 at both the Valentine Invitational at Boston University and the Tiger Paw Invitational at Clemson University.
