Clutch performances by Texas’ fielders and heptathletes boosted them into an eighth place finish behind Indiana at the NCAA Indoor Championships with a total score of 22.5 points.
Senior Thrower Jacob Thormaehlen got the intensity levels cooking pretty high early on with his final heave of 67-03.75 in the shot put to break the school record previously held by freshman Ryan Crouser. Thormaehlen became an All-American for the second year indoors and earned second place overall in the event.
Crouser was tied for the lead with his first throw of 65-5, but hit a slump after that and fouled his remaining five attempts. Despite the major setback, he finished fifth overall to gain All-American status.
Continuing the trend was junior Marquise Goodwin in the long jump with his second straight third place finish indoors. His leap of 26-02.25 on his second attempt put him just over one inch shy of the gold.
Junior pole vaulter Maston Wallace matched his season best height of 17-8.5 to vault himself into the top eight. He finished sixth overall and became an All-American for the second time in his indoor career.
Heptathletes junior Isaac Murphy and freshman Petter Olson were among 16 competitors in the multi-event competition. The two men shattered day one’s first four events with a slew of personal bests.
On Saturday, Murphy and Olson returned fully charged to compete in the final three of the seven events. Their performances were among the highest scoring heptathlons in NCAA history.
The second event boosted Olson into a tie for seventh place as he matched a personal best height of 16-00.75 in the pole vault. In the final event, he clocked a 2:39.97 in the 1000 meter run and posted a career-high 5,868 points to earn seventh place overall.
Murphy came in seventh in the 1000 meter with a time of 2:45.49, earning him a 10th place overall finish with a season-high 5,571 points.
Eagerness and mental toughness gave rise to gritty performances on the NCAA Indoor battleground, shedding light on the Longhorns’ future success in the upcoming outdoor season. In two weeks Texas will dual unranked UCLA on March 24.
