Just as action is starting to heat up at Mike A. Myers Stadium, junior Trey Hardee has already had a full helping of the Texas Relays. Hardee ended up six points shy of the school record in winning the decathlon on Thursday and came back to run the anchor leg of Texas' 4x100-meter relay, which finished third in its heat in a regional-qualifying 40.15. TexasSports.com got a chance to catch up with Hardee as he finished his third day of competition.
On the advantage of competing at home: I know the track a lot better and even though they were unpredictable, I know how the wind is going to blow. There is a familiarity and a comfort that goes into competing at home. I didn't get real tense before the meet and I wasn't tense. I think it was easier to stay relaxed.
On almost setting the school record in the decathlon: We weren't exactly sure where I stood before the 1,500 meters, but I knew I had to come back and run the 4x100. I held back a lot in the 1,500. The six points is about .8 of a second in the 1,500 meters, a third of a bar in the pole vault or less than a half of a bar in the high jump. It is all these little things that could have happened, but it isn't a big deal. We were going out with the goal of trying to qualify for NCAAs.
On setting up the rest of the season after qualifying: We'll see what will happen at the conference. It depends on how I can help the team. If I can better help the team by doing the decathlon and scoring points there, then I'll do that. But I may be needed to be a relay guy, so it just depends on what we need. Then, a month after that will be NCAAs, so we'll see what happens.
On how he feels after his third day of competition: I feel a lot better than I thought I would. I didn't get after the 1,500 meters too much, which probably helped. But, today, I felt like you should feel after doing a decathlon. No matter how hard you do it, it hurts. You are going to have aches and pains. Overall, I feel pretty good and am ready to go.
On having someone like Donovan Kilmartin to train with: I'm definitely grateful for it because last year, I really didn't have anyone to train with. I also didn't have anyone to push me. Out here, you have to raise your level everyday or you can get embarrassed. It's been nice training with him. We talk about how if we could combine his jumping with my sprints that we would be one of the best in the world. We try and use each other to get better, which is only going to help us in the end.
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