Outdoor season begins with Texas Relays, Stanford Invitational

AUSTIN – The indoor national champions start the outdoor season this week as the Arkansas squad competes in a pair of meets. The Razorbacks will have a crew at the 95th Texas Relays along with a group at the Stanford Invitational, which began in 1975.

“We split our forces this week,” noted Arkansas women’s head coach Lance Harter. “For our ballistic people, with the sprinters, hurdlers, and jumpers, they are going to Austin, Texas. The Texas Relays have always been a mainstay in their lives. It’s also the host of the national championships, so a lot of people want to get used to those runways and etcetera.

“The distance crew will join the men’s team to be out in force at Stanford, which traditionally always produces a lot of qualifying marks, which means you want to be in the top 48 for the West region. We want to try to post those marks to get ready and qualify for the first round of the NCAA Championships.”

Live results from the Texas Relays will be available at this link: https://relays.texassports.com/. Coverage of the Texas Relays through the Longhorn Network will have the following schedule.

Longhorn Network | Texas Relays Schedule

TAPE: Wednesday, March 29th 6:30-8 PM
LIVE: Thursday, March 30th: 7-10 PM
LIVE: Friday, March 31st: 9:30 AM-1:30 PM | 5-6:30 PM
LIVE: Saturday, April 1st: 1:30-5:30 PM

Competition at the Texas Relays begins on Wednesday with Macy Owens competing in the heptathlon. Owens is one of just two freshmen among a field of 20 athletes scheduled to contest the event, which includes NCAA Indoor heptathlon champion Jadin O’Brien of Notre Dame as well as Florida’s Sterling Lester and Kristine Blazevica of Texas, who finished fourth and fifth at the NCAA Indoor.

Arkansas is scheduled to compete in five relay events – 4 x 100, 4 x 400, 4 x 400 Invitational, 4 x 800, and Sprint Medley – at the Texas Relays. Among those events the Razorbacks have totaled seven relay victories, including four in the sprint medley. While not contesting the distance medley, Arkansas has previously claimed a pair of Texas Relays titles in that event as well.

The Razorback 4 x 400m relay, which broke the world indoor record with a 3:21.75 performance that also bettered the outdoor collegiate record, will race in the Invitational section along with Kentucky, Texas, Baylor, Ohio State, UCLA, LSU, Texas Tech, and Georgia.

Texas Relays | Arkansas relay victories | UA records

“We always open up at Texas Relays, it’s a great event for us,” said Arkansas associate head coach Chris Johnson. “So, we’ll go down there and run some relays and let the team kind of get acclimated to the outdoor track.

“It’ll be the first time to run the 4 x 100, 4 x 800, and sprint medley this season. It will give us a chance to get some stick work and have some reps. We’ll go out there and race and have some fun.”

Individual events for the Razorbacks in the Texas Relays will include the 100m, 100m hurdles, 400m hurdles, and pole vault.

Britton Wilson, the indoor American and collegiate record holder at 400m, returns as the defending champion in the 400m hurdles after setting a Texas Relays record of 54.73 last season. However, limited hurdle sessions since the conclusion of the indoor season may factor whether Wilson attempts to defend her title.

“It’ll be a game-time decision with Britton in the 400m hurdles,” noted Johnson. “We haven’t had much work over the 400m hurdles, so we’re still pondering if we’re going to do it. We’ll run some relays with her and then make a game-time decision regarding the hurdles. Due to the weather over our spring break, we haven’t had as much time to get outdoors.

“She’s doing fine and training well. If it makes sense, we’ll get it done.”

Racing in the 100m hurdle field is two-time 60m hurdle NCAA champion Ackera Nugent along with Daszay Freeman, Yovienny Mota, and Madison Langley-Walker, who is also entered in the 400m hurdles. Entered in the 100m are Tiana Wilson, Joanne Reid, and Ariane Linton.

Vaulting in two separate sections of the pole vault are NCAA Indoor champion Amanda Fassold and Kaitlyn Banas in the elite division while Mackenzie Hayward and Bailee McCorkle are in the university division. Sydney Billington is entered in the high jump.

Myers Stadium is the host venue for the Texas Relays, and it will serve as the facility for the 2023 NCAA Outdoor Championships in June. The last time Myers Stadium hosted the NCAA meet in 2019, Arkansas won the national team title.

“We’re excited about our outdoor team,” stated Harter. “I think a lot of our firepower that occurred at indoor nationals could even be better outdoors. With people like Britton Wilson, who can run some great 400s, now moves into her mainstay, the 400m hurdles. We’ll have a very good 4 x 100m relay and our 4 x 400 is very, very potent.

“Then we’ll add a few distance runners. We have two steeplechasers who are national caliber in that event. We also have young people that are going to have an opportunity to step into the spotlight in the 5,000m and 10,000m.”

Contesting the longer distance races on Friday evening at Stanford will have Sydney Thorvaldson entered in the 5,000m and 10,000m. Razorbacks in the 5,000m will include Mia Cochran, Nyah Hernandez, Gracie Hyde, Claire McCune, Heidi Nielson, Julia Paternain, and Isabel Van Camp.

Arkansas will have the duo of Laura Taborda and Mackenzie Rogers in the 3,000m steeplechase. Scheduled to race in the 1,500m are Cochran, Mary Ellen Eudaly, Hyde, and Carmie Prinsloo.

Coverage of the Stanford Invitational will be on FloTrack (https://flosports.link/3AnrZCd), starting at 1 p.m. (CT) on Friday. Live results will be available at this link: https://rt.trackscoreboard.com/meets/33123/events.

“We made the decision to take a little bit of a break, catch our breath, and refocus before beginning the outdoor season,” stated Harter. “If we do it right, the outdoor season will go until mid-June. For those that are international caliber it will be well into July and August. It’s time to get it going, but it’s a long season.”

Texas Relays | Schedule (CT) | Arkansas Entries 

Stanford Invitational Schedule (PT) | Arkansas Entries

Women