Around Campus

No. 1 Ranked Women’s Track and Field and No. 3 Ranked Men’s Track Will Host NCAA Regionals in May

All-America senior Melaine Walker is one of the nation’s top hurdlers and relay specialists.
Senior All-American Trey Hardee, the reigning NCAA decathlon champion, set the collegiate record in the decathlon at the Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on April 6. Hardee collected 8,465 points, topping the prior college mark of 8,463 points which stood since 1999.
All-America and NCAA sprint and long jump champion junior Marshevet Hooker will set her sights on leading Texas to another NCAA championship run this spring.

Both University of Texas track and field teams are off to a tremendous start this outdoor season, with Bev Kearney’s women’s squad ranked No. 1 nationally as they prepare to defend their NCAA Outdoor Championship team title, while Bubba Thornton’s men’s team stands No. 4 nationally.

Fans will have an opportunity to watch the Longhorns and the best track and field competitors across the region when UT hosts the 2006 NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on Friday and Saturday, May 26 and 27, at the Mike A. Myers Stadium on the Forty Acres. For tickets, go to www.TexasBoxOffice.com; tickets also will be available at the gate on both days of the NCAA meet.

From the NCAA Regionals, top performers will advance to the 2006 NCAA National Outdoor Championships which will take place June 7-10 in Sacramento, California. The Longhorn women are the defending NCAA national outdoor titlists, having won the 2005 event in Sacramento last June. In addition, Kearney’s Longhorns also are the defending NCAA indoor champions.

Currently, both Longhorn squads are enjoying brilliant starts to the outdoor season.

The Texas women ranked No. 1 in the first collegiate track outdoor poll released in mid-April by the USTFCCCA (United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association) were in the top spot of the Trackwire.com rankings as well.

After capturing its sixth NCAA indoor championship, Texas has opened the outdoor season in impressive fashion after competing at the Texas Invitational and the 79th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays (April 5-8 at Myers Stadium). After collecting a slew of NCAA regional qualifying marks in its early outdoor meets, Texas figures to be well represented as its hosts the NCAA Regional Championships in late May.

Junior Marshevet Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) owns the fastest 100-meter time in the world after clocking 11.13 at the Texas Relays, where she also anchored the 4x100-meter relay squad to the nation’s fastest collegiate time. Senior Melaine Walker (Kingston, Jamaica) currently stands as the second-fastest 400-meter hurdler in the world after clocking 54.87, which marks the top collegiate time this season.

Additionally, freshman Destinee Hooker (San Antonio, Texas) holds the nation’s top mark in the high jump at 6 feet, 1 1/2 inches.

On the men’s side, the Longhorns were ranked No. 3 nationally by Trackwire.com and No. 4 by the USTFCCCA in mid-April.

The Longhorns jumped out to a quick start outdoors. Senior Trey Hardee (Birmingham, Ala.) and junior Donovan Kilmartin (Eagle, Idaho) both earned NCAA automatic qualifying marks in the decathlon, and several other Longhorns have punched their collective tickets for the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships.

Texas placed fourth at the 2006 NCAA Indoor Championships with 35 points, tying the highest NCAA indoor-scoring output in the history of the program. With each indoor-point scorer eligible for outdoor competition, the Longhorns figure to make a run for their first NCAA track and field title later this spring in Sacramento, Calif.

Texas’ strong outdoor showing to date has been led by the performances of Hardee. Hardee, the reigning NCAA decathlon champion, won eight of 10 decathlon events at the prestigious Texas Relays, setting new personal bests in seven of them en route to setting the new collegiate decathlon record. His final score of 8,465 topped the previous collegiate record score of 8,463 set by Tennessee’s Tom Pappas in 1999.

Hardee’s decathlon score of 8,465 is the highest in the world this year. His score is the eighth-highest mark recorded by an American decathlete. Bruce Jenner’s gold-medal performance (8,634) at the 1976 Summer Olympic Games in Montreal ranks seventh.