After the Texas men finished 14th out of 15 schools at the Southeastern Conference Indoor Championships on March 1, head coach Edrick Floréal led a team meeting before leaving College Station.
Despite a readiness to head back to Austin, the team got off the bus and gathered in the parking lot.
Exposed by the high-level competition of their new conference, the parking lot meeting helped the Longhorns take accountability for their performance and use it as a learning experience. Floréal’s message highlighted a sentiment felt by a program expecting nothing but the best. To reach Texas standards, some work needed to be done.
“(We knew that) we’re gonna have to fix some stuff or that’s gonna happen again and we’re gonna be a laughing stock of the SEC,” junior Logan Popelka said.
For many Longhorns, the SEC meet was a disappointing end to an indoor season that saw Texas noticeably drop in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rankings.
Only two Texas men, senior high jumpers Kelsey Daniel and Solomon Washington, competed in the subsequent NCAA Indoor Championships. Last year, the Longhorns had 9 male representatives at the national finale.
The outdoor season, as a result, has had an extra element of significance for the team – a determination to bounce back and show that Texas is a factor in SEC and national track and field.
“Stuff changed instantly,” Popelka said. “So we all (have) a chip on our shoulder because we know we are better than what we performed indoors hands down.”
Now, over halfway through the outdoor regular season, the Longhorns have shown promise. Currently ranked No. 19 in the USTFCCCA outdoor national rankings, Texas has multiple men at or near the top of the NCAA qualifying list.
Junior Kendrick Smallwood holds the No. 1 spot in the 110-meter hurdles and set a new Texas record on April 18th at the Tom Jones Invitational in Gainesville, Florida. Junior Kody Blackwood moved to the No. 2 place in the 400-meter hurdle rankings with a personal best in Gainesville.
Popelka sits at No. 13 in the 400-meter race and is part of the 4×100 and 4×400-meter relay teams that hold the No. 13 and No. 24 spots, respectively. All three marks were earned this past weekend in Gainesville as well.
Sophomore high jumper Osawese Agbonkonkon pushed past the seven-foot mark at the Texas Relays on March 26 to currently have the No. 14 spot. Indoor national championship competitors Daniel and Washington both sit in the top 40 of the long jump with a lot of time and work left.
Five weeks out from the NCAA West First Round, the Longhorns are getting going at the right time. But, the outdoor format requires longevity, consistency and improvement. Floréal has stressed that to the team.
“We’re working towards getting to regionals and always trying to have our best performance at regionals,” senior Isaac Alonzo said. “That’s a really important part to (Floréal) because he knows anything can happen. You just got to give yourself a chance.”
Alonzo and his fellow distance runners competed at the Brian Clay Invitational in Azusa, California, last week. The meets and those of the coming weeks are crucial in many distance runners’ attempts to get themselves within the 48-person regional qualification line.
Next up is Texas’s second outdoor home meet, the Texas Invitational, taking place on April 24-25 at Mike A. Myers Stadium. Competitions in each of the following three weeks lead into the Longhorns’ inaugural SEC Outdoor Championships, held May 15-17 in Lexington, Kentucky.
