Since the previous week’s rankings, the No. 18 Texas women’s indoor track and field team has dropped five spots. 

The drop comes the week before the Southeastern Conference indoor track and field championships and following an action-packed weekend for the Longhorns. On Friday and Saturday, Texas competed in invitationals hosted by Boston University and Arkansas. 

Although the Longhorns in Boston fared well, the Fayetteville group was not as successful. The squad in Arkansas struggled to pull ahead of opponents such as LSU, Tennessee, Florida and others. 

Each SEC team will report to the championship on Feb. 26. Texas A&M will host the championship in College Station. Events will begin at 11:00 a.m. with the heptathlon, a competition comprising 100-meter hurdles, high jump, shot put, long jump and 800-meter run. 

Throwing events, like the weighted throw and shot put, have been an area of strength for the Longhorns this season. 

Giavonna Meeks, a junior thrower, broke the school record in the weighted throw during her first event with the Longhorns, a record she has since broken twice. Her personal best is now 24.49 meters.

Field events will also take place on Thursday, consisting of the long jump and pole jump. 

Closing out Thursday will be 200-meter preliminaries, the 5K and distance medley running events.

Friday will begin with weighted throw finals, an event that will feature Meeks. Following weighted throws, running events will start with one-mile prelims. 

The mile prelims will be followed by 60, 400 and 800-meter prelims, and the night will finish with prelims for 60-meter hurdles. 

Saturday, the final day of the championship, will commence with field event finals. Once the field events wrap up, Texas will make its final push for victory with running events.

Texas will look to graduate distance runner Sophie Atkinson to lead them in the running events. Atkinson, a transfer from Virginia, recently recorded a personal best mile time of 4:47:97. She also broke a school record of 39 years in the 3K with a time of 9:04.40.  

The running events will begin with one mile finals, and will be followed by 60-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter, 3K and 60-meter hurdles finals. The running events will conclude with the 4×400-meet relay. 

The Longhorn relay team is strong, finishing with a time of 3:28.97 and third overall in the Arkansas Tyson Invitational relay championship, behind Arkansas and Florida. 

Ranked below SEC opponents Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama, Texas will face a competitive yet achievable feat in the SEC championships. With talent on both the track and in the field, the Longhorns will look for a victorious weekend in late February.