The Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays kicked off on Wednesday, opening four days of track and field competition amongst athletes ranging from high school to the professional level. In the 100th edition of the Texas Relays and the 97th for Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays, the first events began for the men’s decathlon and women’s heptathlon. 

The decathlon consists of ten events over two days, starting out with the 100-meter sprint, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400-meter race on day one. As the sole representative for the Longhorns in the event, sophomore Brock Lewis began his day by setting a new personal best in the 100-meter sprint with a time of 11.13 seconds, surpassing his previous time of 11.29 seconds. 

However, that would not be the last time Lewis set a personal best on Wednesday. In the 400-meter sprint, Lewis set another record for himself with a time of 49.43 seconds and placed in the top 10. Lewis also placed in the top 10 in the long jump, recording a jump of 6.76 meters.

“We feel pretty good … there were some scratchy spots in maybe the jumps (and) definitely room to improve there, but hey we’ll get better. We had some good (personal records) in other events so I’m happy,” Lewis said. “I’m looking forward to some hurdles, some (pole) vaults and some (1500-meter).” 

Competing against 19 other athletes from 13 universities, Lewis ended the day sitting in 14th with 3,700 points. Long Beach State and North Carolina dominated on the first day of the event. Long Beach State had at least two of its three decathlon team members in the top five in three events, while North Carolina junior Max Stakun-Pickering took the lead on the decathlon leaderboard with 4,130 points.

The heptathlon comprises seven events over the first two days, the first four being the 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put and the 200-meter sprint. Two freshmen, Meagan Humphries and Tabea Eitel, represented the Longhorns in the event. 

Humphries was impressive throughout the day, posting top-five finishes in three of the four events, including a personal best in the high jump with a 1.71-meter jump to tie for second place. Only Alabama freshman Katelyn Adel bested Humphries with a jump of 1.77 meters. 

Humphries boasted another top-three finish in the 200 meters with a time of 24.70 seconds, giving her third place. 

Humphries again impressed in burnt orange after jumping to fourth all-time in the pentathlon on Texas’ All-Time Indoor Top Performers and Performances list. She finished the first day in sixth place overall for the heptathlon with a total score of 3,206 points. 

Day two of the decathlon and heptathlon will take place on Thursday, with the Texas Relays continuing throughout the week into Saturday. Former Olympians, including Olympic 100-meter gold medalist Julian Alfred, are expected to participate.

Texas relays will resume on Thursday with the 110-meter hurdles for the men and the long jump for the women.