FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- The Texas women's track and field team finished the opening day of the NCAA Indoor Championships on Friday, March 11 in first place with 19 points, while the men's team finished the day with four opportunities to score on Saturday. Sophomores Michelle Carter (Ovilla, Texas) and Marshevet Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) broke the school records in the shot put and long jump, respectively, on their way to a pair of second-place finishes.
"I couldn't be more pleased with our performances today," said Texas women's head coach Beverly Kearney. "We had three athletes score using personal bests and we still have a great opportunity to score tomorrow."
Carter posted a new school record with a throw of 58-7.25, besting her own mark of 58-6.50 set at the Tyson Invitational on Feb. 12. The second place finish gave the Longhorns eight points. Hooker notched a school record of her own in finishing second in the long jump with a leap of 21-6.25. Her jump surpassed the previous mark of 21-4 set by Nicole Devonish in 1997. Hooker went on to qualify for the finals in the 60 meters after setting another personal best of 7.25.
Junior Melaine Walker (Kingston, Jamaica) also set a personal best of 8.10 in the prelims of the 60-meter hurdles. She went on to finish sixth in the event behind an 8.14 to give the Longhorns three more points.
On the men's side, sophomore Donovan Kilmartin (Eagle, Idaho) and junior Trey Hardee (Birmingham, Ala.) sit in second and third place, respectively, after four events in the heptathlon. Kilmartin won both the long jump (23-11.75) and the high jump (6-9.50), while Hardee took the 60 meters in a time of 6.92. Kilmartin finished the first day with a total of 3,312 points, while Hardee is just behind with 3,281 points. Auburn's Maurice Smith is in the lead after four events with 3,352 points.
Freshman Leonel Manzano (Marble Falls, Texas) qualified for the final in the mile with a time of 4:03.90, the third best time of the day. Sophomore Andra Manson (Brenham, Texas) will also be in action on Saturday. He enters the high jump competition with the best mark in the country, 7-5, which he set in winning the Big 12 indoor title.
Senior Mark Nichol competed for the Longhorns in the 5,000 meters and finished 14th with a time of 14:24.03, while junior Quincy Boles (Harker Heights, Texas) also saw action in the 60 meters, but did not qualify for the finals after running a 6.77.
"We have set ourselves up nicely to score some points on Saturday," said Texas men's head coach Bubba Thornton. "The multi-event performers had a great day and will be in contention tomorrow and Andra (Manson) and Leonel (Manzano) will also be ready to go."
Action will get underway on Saturday, March 12 at 11 a.m. (Central) with the heptathlon's 60-meter hurdles. For live updates, visit TexasSports.com and click on the Track and Field results link in the live scoring section.
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