Texas men’s track and field continued its impressive form at the Dr. MLK Jr. Invitational in the team’s first of two trips to Albuquerque, New Mexico, this indoor season.
The foremost of Texas standouts is junior sprinter Logan Popelka, who rose up to fourth on Texas’ indoor all-time performer list in both the 200-meter and 400-meter races. He was victorious in the 400 and finished second in the 200-meter behind unattached runner and French Olympian Ryan Zeze.
Senior Sam Hurley set a new personal pole vault record at 5.52 meters, promoting him to the No. 2 Texas All-Time Indoor Pole Vault Performer. The mark earned him fifth in the event, but only one collegiately-affiliated athlete was above him. Hurley also finished in a three-way tie for first in the high jump alongside sophomore Osawese Agbonkonkon, who is in his first semester at Texas after transferring from Oregon.
Assistant Coach Jim Garnham talked about the collaborative and competitive energy between Hurley, Agbonkonkon and junior high jumper Dylan Lineberger during the vertical jumps and combined events.
“(Agbonkonkon) is brand new (to Texas),” Garnham said. “But the relationship is (already) good because (Hurley) is always helping … he’s saying the same things that I’m saying, but (it) coming from your peer instead of your coach is different. … The practice situation with, now, the three of them — there is so much trash talk, it’s unreal.”
Junior sprinter Kendrick Smallwood tied his personal best and set a new personal best in the 60-meter hurdle and unseeded “B” 200-meter races, respectively, in winning performances.
After winning the long jump last week, senior Kelsey Daniel earned another top-place finish, this time in the triple jump. He was named a 2024 First Team All-American and is Texas’ fifth-best all-time performer in the event, that feat resulting from his performance at the 2024 Big 12 Indoor Championships.
Senior Solomon Washington got the win for Texas in the opening event of the meet, the long jump, with the victorious distance coming on his fifth of six attempts. Sophomore Michael Pinones dominated the shot put on Saturday, winning the event for the second week in a row. Freshman sprinter Amir Thompson made his individual 400-meter collegiate debut an especially memorable one, outrunning the second-place finisher by over a second in the unseeded “B” race.
Texas is ranked No. 7 in the initial U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s National Track & Field Rating Index. Longhorn rivals Texas A&M and Oklahoma, ranked No. 1 and 4, respectively, are the only Southeastern Conference teams above Texas. The Lone Star and Red River rivalries, now both in conference, are in full swing on the track.
“It is a prideful thing to have that (Longhorn) on your chest,” Garnham said. “A&M and Oklahoma, they want to beat us every time they see us, and it’s the same thing with us — we want to beat them.”
There are six other SEC representatives in Week 1’s Top 25. The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rating index is updated weekly on Tuesdays.
The team will head back to New Mexico for another two-day indoor meet on Feb. 7 and 8 at the Albuquerque Convention Center. Before that, the Texas distance runners will go to Fayetteville, Arkansas, where the team competed on Jan. 17, for the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1.