Although the Longhorns and the Bruins each had nine event wins, Texas was unable to hold onto their edge as they fell to UCLA in the outdoor season opener 85-77 on Saturday.

Despite an unpredicted loss, Texas’ performance showed the team’s potential.

And it appeared the men chose 100 meters to be their 2012 starting point of demolition. The 4×100 relay squad featuring Alex Williams, Marquise Goodwin, Keiron Stewart and Trevante Rhodes sprinted out a meet record winning time of 39.61. Teammates Mark Jackson, Aaron Scott, Emerson Sanders and Isaac Murphy clocked the third best time of 39.83.

Texas swept the 100-meter dash, as “Flash” Goodwin put the heat on with a winning time of 10.58. He was followed by Sanders in second, Rhodes in third, Scott in fifth and Williams in sixth.

The 4×400 relay group, featuring Kyle Thompson, Josh Brudnick, Stewart and Dereck Dryer continued the trend with a top finish of 3:14.60.

Dreyer and Stewart took second and third in the 400-meter dash, while Scott had a third place finish and time of 21.64 in the 200-meter.

Distance runners followed suit with a string of consistent performances. Sophomore Austin Roth controlled the pack of the 3000-meter steeplechase, clocking in a leading time of 8:57.00 to win. Teammate Collin Smith came in third. Brock Simmons debuted in the 5000-meter run and finished third overall with a 14:24.10.

The Longhorns also clenched the top two spots in the 1500 meter with C.J. Jessett (3:50.76) in first and Patrick McGregor (3:51.03) in second.

Thompson’s time of 1:50.11 ousted UCLA’s redshirt freshman Sam DeMello for the win in the 800-meter run.

Texas’ group of multi-event specialists were able to work their talent among a variety of events. Petter Olson won the 110 meter hurdles with a time of 14.54 and threw for a fourth place mark in the javelin. Murphy was close behind in the hurdles at 14.68 and seventh in the discus. Kenny Greaves was able to see action for the first time this year, placing fifth in both the javelin and 110-meter hurdles.

The Longhorns’ fielders matched their usual powerhouse performances, starting with Jackson’s winning mark of 24-1.50 in the long jump. Sanders finished in third.

The highly touted Jacob Thormaehlen led the Texas throwers with his launch of 64-05.75 in the shot put. He also took second in the hammer throw with a toss of 185-2 and came in fifth in discus.

Will Spence added third place finishes in the shot put and discus, while Blake Jakobsson took fourth in discus.

Sophomore vaulter Mark Thomas cleared 16-04.75 to place second behind UCLA’s Mike Woepse.

Texas doesn’t see the loss as a shortcoming, but more so as the extra motivation needed to fine-tune and refocus for next weekend’s Texas Relays. 

Printed on Monday, March 26, 2012 as: Potential displayed amid loss to UCLA