Men's Track & Field wins 10 events at Longhorn Invitational
April 21, 2012
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AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Men's Track & Field team had several personal bests on the way to winning 10 events Saturday at the Longhorn Invitational at Mike A. Myers Stadium. Redshirt freshman Blake Jakobsson set a personal best and won the discus for the first time in his career with a throw of 184-01 (56.11m). Texas swept the top five spots with the other finishers including Ryan Crouser in second (181-10, 55.43m), Will Spence in third (181-02, 55.21m), Jacob Thormaehlen in fourth (172-00, 52.42m) and Hayden Baillio in fifth (167-05, 51.04m). "It feels good to finally get a mark out there," said Jakobsson. "I felt good today and hopefully I can carry that over into the next few big meets we have scheduled. We had a really nice day outside and I came in good technically." "It was really good for Blake," said head coach Bubba Thornton. "It was a nice day. He had some personal bests but more importantly he moved up in the conference standings. Those points will become really critical in that event so it was good to see him doing the things that we asked him to do." Baillio won the shot put for the first time this outdoor season, throwing 62-07.75 (19.09m). He ended teammate Jacob Thormaehlen's string of victories. Thormaehlen finished second with a throw of 62-06.50 (19.06m) after winning his first three outdoor meets. On his first throw of the day, Spence set a personal best with a mark of 59-03.50 (18.07m). Junior C.J. Jessett continued his string of success as he has won all three of his races this season. This time around he was the top collegiate finisher in the 1500m run as he cut six seconds off his time from the UCLA dual to edge out teammate Patrick McGregor with a time of 3:44.70. In all 11 Longhorns ran the race and were the only collegians under the four-minute mark. "C.J. is one of the better athletes on this team yet the inconsistency has been something he has had to deal with," said Thornton. "In the last couple of weeks he has put some good things together and we feel he is moving in the right direction." Sophomore Mark Thomas was the winner in the pole vault as the Longhorns captured the top three collegiate spots. He matched Hayden Clark for the top height at 17-00.75 (5.20m) but cleared that height in fewer attempts. For Clark it was a personal best by nearly a half foot as his previous top height was 16-07.50 last week at the Texas Invitational. Casey Wicker was third with a 16-06.75 (5.05m). "For us the biggest thing was to relax," said Thomas. "For Hayden that was big today because he definitely qualified for NCAA Regionals. We need to relax. Our workouts, practice and our weight training are all good but we have to relax to put it all together." Junior Marquise Goodwin was the top collegian in the long jump and earned third place overall with a jump of 25-02.00 (7.67m). It was just his second time jumping this outdoor season. He also won the 100m dash, recording a time of 10.44 to lead the field. "My phases and progression was good in the 100m," said Goodwin. "I have to stay relaxed but overall it was a good race for me. The next couple of months are very important. I have to continue to keep my body healthy so I can compete." Sophomore Mark Jackson was second overall and first among college athletes in the triple jump. He jumped 49-03.50 (15.02m) to just beat out Jarard Bruner who finished third overall and second to Jackson for collegians. The two relays were also victorious. The 4x100m relay team took first place with a time of 40.18. Running on the relay were Mark Jackson, Marquise Goodwin, Emerson Sanders and Trevante Rhodes. In the 4x400m relay, Isaac Murphy, Josh Brudnick, Kyle Thompson and Dereck Dreyer pulled away for a 3:10.52 win. Rhodes was the top collegiate runner and second overall in the 200m dash. His time of 21.05 was a season best. Alex Williams ran the event for the first time this season with a 21.71 for third place. "I am happy to be dropping time but it is not to the point where it needs to be," said Rhodes. "The fact that we have been more diligent in execution in practice and warming up has made a difference in how we do in the races." Next week UT will compete at the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa.
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