The rainy conditions throughout the competition finally turned to sunshine on the final day of the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays.
On a beautiful yet windy Saturday afternoon, Texas looked to finish strong in front of a loud and energized home crowd. Having already won six events on Friday, the Longhorns looked to add on with several more athletes competing in finals.
The headliner of the day was junior Kendrick Smallwood, who took the track in the 110-meter hurdles final after qualifying with a program record time of 13.35 on Friday. He won the event comfortably with a blazing 13.07 seconds as he crossed the finish line with an extremely hyped fist pump.
It was an emotionally charged meet for Smallwood, who broke through after a year filled with adversity. He suffered an adductor injury that increasingly plagued him throughout last season, which eventually ended when it tore in April.
“(I) doubted myself all of last season thinking I’m not going to come back,” he told KXAN, choking up. “And coming back doing something crazy like this is just a blessing.”
Adding to it was his bittersweet indoor season, in which he finished tied for No. 18 nationally in the 60-meter hurdles. Saturday was his first opportunity to redeem himself after the Indoor Southeastern Conference Championships last month.
“My mindset leaving (SEC Indoor Championships) was (to) get my lick back because I was a few spots away from making it to indoor nationals,” Smallwood said.
His long-awaited redemption finally arrived with by far his personal-best performance, leaving him with the top time in the NCAA.
Texas also competed in the 4×100-meter relay finals, looking to become repeat Texas Relays champions with the team of Smallwood, sophomore Xavier Butler, junior Logan Popelka and senior Almond Small. The team ran 39.44 and finished third behind Kentucky and Texas Tech, the former of whom returned three from last season’s national qualifying team.
Seniors Isaac Alonzo and Logan Patete were the two Longhorns to finish the Jerry Thompson Mile Invitational. Alonzo would claim second with a time of 4:04.36, and Patete finished eighth with a 4:20.00.
The field events wrapped up with the shot put for the A division. Sophomore Michael Piñones threw for 17.55 meters on his third throw, enough to receive the final throws. He was hovering around eighth and ninth for most of the contest, but on his final throw, he threw for an impressive 18.47 meters to jump him to fifth place.
“(My coach and I) were preaching about just going for it,” Piñones said about his final throw. “It’s nothing more to it other than stop throwing scared.”
The final track events of the afternoon for Texas were the two 4×400-meter relays. Sophomore Nabil Tezkratt, senior Elijah Mosley, junior Damon Frabotta and junior Chris Brinkley Jr. finished in eighth with a time of 3:09.67. In the C. Price Jr. 4×400-meter Invitational, junior Kody Blackwood, Popelka, Smallwood and Brinkley Jr. finished in third with a time of 3:06.53.
Several Longhorn athletes had a successful Saturday as they got settled into the outdoor season. Texas will return to the track on April 4 in the Tom Tellez Invite at the University of Houston.
