Men's Track and Field ties Nebraska for Big 12 Indoor Championships
AMES, Iowa -- Four Longhorns won individual championships, the distance medley relay defended its 2006 title and the third-ranked Texas men's track and field team tied Nebraska for a share of the 2007 Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships on Saturday, Feb. 24. The men's title came down to the final event of the day when Texas entered leading Nebraska by six points. The Huskers' 4x400-meter relay finished in third-place to equal the Longhorns two-day, championship total of 93 points. Over the two-day meet, UT tied or broke three meet records. Junior Leo Manzano (Marble Falls, Texas) broke the mile record and the distance medley relay shattered the Big 12 record. Senior Andra Manson (Brenham, Texas) tied the high jump record held by Texas ex Mark Boswell. The meet championship was the third overall indoor win for the Longhorns but marked the first shared league title. Texas has won twice in the last two years and all three championships have come under head coach Bubba Thornton. Behind Texas and Nebraska was Oklahoma in third with 80.50 points. Missouri was fourth with 79 points and Baylor was fifth with 75 points. "We're really happy with how the team performed," commented Thornton. "Obviously we found out a lot about ourselves and how we're going to handle competitions in the future. Some of the guys grew up this week. Overall we were extremely happy but yet we are not completely satisfied." Senior Andra Manson (Brenham, Texas) became the first UT men's high jumper to win four consecutive Big 12 Indoor Championships. The two-time national champion won the high jump with conference- and facility-tying heights of 7-6.50 (2.30m). He met the automatic standard for the third consecutive meet. He cleared his final two bars on the first attempt and only missed three approaches over the first five heights. He joins former UT pole vaulter Jacob Davis as the only Texas athlete to win four consecutive titles. Joining Manson in the winner's circle was junior Leo Manzano (Marble Falls, Texas) broke the Big 12 and UT school records in winning the mile run. He ran 3:58.78 in taking the event title for the third consecutive season. His mile time is the fastest in the nation, and he is the first mile runner in the country this year to automatically qualify in the event. Senior Donovan Kilmartin (Eagle, Idaho) won his third consecutive heptathlon championship with a two-day, seven-event total of 5,870 points. He just missed breaking the Big 12 meet record he set at 5,876 points in 2007. Kilmartin now has the highest point total in the nation this year and is top 20 in the world in 2007. In opening the day in the heptathlon 60-meter hurdles, Kilmartin placed second in 8.25 seconds. He followed that performance with a win in the pole vault at 13-10 (4.22m), good for 679 points. Nearing his own conference championship record, Kilmartin ran 2:50.27 in the 1000-meter run but missed the mark by less than three-tenths of a second. Kilmartin also added a ninth-place finish in the open pole vault. He cleared 16-7.5 (5.07m). After running the third leg of the champion distance medley relay, junior Jacob Hernandez (Magnolia, Texas) returned on day two for an individual championship. Hernandez won the 800-meter run with a season-best time of 1:50.26 at his first Big 12 meet. Senior All-American Darren Brown (Spring, Texas) continued to add to UT's point total, scoring six points with a third-place, 1000-meter time of 2:23.20. On Friday, Brown tallied 2.5 points as the leadoff leg in the Big 12 champion distance medley relay. Sophomore Andrew Webb (Midland, Texas) came in fourth in the heptathlon, scoring five points in his first Big 12 indoor meet. He commanded the 60-meter hurdles, winning with a time of 8.14 and scoring 947 points. He vaulted 13-10 (4.42m) in the pole vault for 679 points. In the final event of the weekend, Webb crossed the line in the 1000-meter run in a personal best run of 2:45.24, tallying 816 points. Junior Erik Stanley (Spring, Texas) and Senior Joe Thorne (Chamblee, Ga.) combined for six points in the mile run. Stanley crossed the tape fifth in 4:06.08 for four points while Thorne was seventh in 4:09.39 with two points. Junior steeple All-American Jake Morse (Arlington, Texas) was one of the last Longhorns to put points on the board, as he contributed four points with a fifth-place, 3,000-meter effort (8:10.73). Senior Trey Hardee (Birmingham, Ala.) scored for the second consecutive day with a fifth-place performance in the 60-meter hurdles. He cleared each barrier in 7.93 seconds. The triple jump duo of sophomore Elliot O'Hare (Austin, Texas) and junior Joseph Davis (San Antonio, Texas) combined for nine points in the triple jump. O'Hare jumped 50-8.25 (15.45m) and Davis registered a mark of 50-5.5 (15.38m). Junior Joel Hargett (Conroe, Texas) scored one point towards the team total, with an eighth-place, 6-8 (2.03m) effort in the high jump. The highlight of the day for freshman Shawn Schmidt (Plano, Texas) was a big win in a career-best time of 2:43.47 in the 1000-meter run. He vaulted 13-6.25 (4.12m) and ran 8.80 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles to finish 12th with 4,724 points in his first Big 12 Championship. 2007 Big 12 Championships 800m run (Auto: 1:47.80/Prov: 1:49.90) Mile run (Auto: 3:59/Prov: 4:04) 1000m run 3000m run (Auto: 7:54/ Prov: 8:05) 60m hurdles (Auto: 7.70/Prov: 7.91) Pole vault (Auto: 5.50m/Prov: 5.20m) Triple jump (Auto: 16.10m/Prov: 15.40m) High jump (Auto: 2.24m/Prov: 2.16m) 4x400m relay (Auto: 3:06.50/Prov: 3:10.40) Heptathlon Day Two Results (Auto: 5,650; Prov: 5,300) Senior Donovan Kilmartin (Eagle, Idaho) Sophomore Andrew Webb (Midland, Texas) Freshman Shawn Schmidt (Plano, Texas) P - preliminary race
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