The baton has officially been passed from indoor track and field season to outdoor season with the 96th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays wrapping up after a four-day stretch. Coming off a women’s championship from the summer of last year, the Texas men’s team hopes to replicate their success.
Building off his 2023 NCAA decathlon champion status, combined events senior Leo Neugebauer posted the top long jump distance at 7.81 meters, as well as back-to-back all-time collegiate best shot put heaves at 17.26 meters and 16.67 meters, respectively, on just the first day. Neugebauer was just short of a year away from not only winning the event but also setting a collegiate record in 2023.
“My best friends, seeing them in the stands screaming my name, dapping me up and all that stuff, that just means the world to me,” Neugebauer told FloTrack after crossing the finish line last summer. “Because I could see in their eyes how proud they were of me.”
Combined events freshman Brock Lewis joined Neugebauer in the standings with a 13th-place finish going into day two of the relays.
On the second day, Neugebauer secured his third consecutive Texas Relays decathlon title with 8,708 points, sitting behind Georgia’s Kyle Garland and himself in the NCAA record books. Lewis finished his first career decathlon, cracking the top ten in this year’s event.
Sophomore Jeremiah Nubbe and senior Luke Partridge made their own run-ins with history in hammer throwing, with Nubbe breaking his own Texas program record with a 73.11-meter heave. Partridge gained the all-time eighth-place spot with his 56.18-meter throw.
During day three, junior Solomon Washington won the first-round long jump convincingly, being the only jumper to crack the eight-meter threshold at 8.14 meters. The tenth sprint medley relay win in school history was captured by sprinters junior Nolton Shelvin, sophomore John Rutledge, graduate student Brian Herron and senior distance runner Yusuf Bizimana.
The final day seemed to be the perfect culmination, as the 4×100-meter relay podium was topped for the first time since 1990 by sprinters Shelvin, Rutledge, graduate student Marcellus Moore and junior Almond Small, grabbing gold for the 20th time in program history with time of 39.22 seconds.
Nubbe achieved a personal best discus throw with a 59.19-meter distance, which was enough for fifth in the competition and eighth on the UT All-Time Performer list. In the Jerry Thompson Men’s Mile, sophomore distance runner Emmanuel Sgouros led the Longhorns’ times with his seventh-place finish of 4:07.65, with sophomore Hudson Heikkinen and freshman Jack Boyd not far behind with their times of 4:08.60 and 4:09.73, respectively.
The outdoor track and field season continues on Saturday in the Cameron Burrell Alumni Invitational as the Longhorns look to bring their golden status to Houston.
