WACO, TEXAS, May 9-11 — With the loss of Julien Alfred and Rhasidat Adeleke to the pro ranks, it would be easy to look at 2024 as a rebuilding year for Texas, and at the national level, that might be true.
But at the conference level, it’s just another year of dominance for the Longhorns. In its final Big 12 meet before moving to the SEC, Texas rolled up 150 points — less than the absurd 197 of 2023, but easily topping BYU’s 98 and Texas Tech’s 96½.
Edrick Floréal’s women took their fifth straight outdoor title with a balanced attack: 69 came from sprint/hurdle events (despite not fielding a 4×4), 31 came from throws, and 16 from jumper Ackelia Smith. Texas took wins in the 200, 400, 400H, TJ, SP and heptathlon.
Smith had the lone collegiate leader of the meet with a sixth-round 45-8 (13.92) in the triple jump. It was nowhere near her PR, but good enough to defend her title. She also produced leaps of 45-3½ (13.80) and 44-9½ (13.65), either of which also would have won.
“I definitely pulled that one out of the bag,” Smith said. “It was not my best day technically. But the distance was there and we’re here for a championship.”
If Smith was disappointed in her TJ, she was even more so in her long jump. She placed 3rd (21-2¾/6.47) behind the 22-5 (6.83) PR of Baylor’s Alexis Brown and 21-3¼ (6.48) of Iowa State’s Sydney Willits. Brown’s mark was a worthy winner, but Smith, the defending NCAA champ, holds a PR beyond 23 feet.
She admitted that a crazy Friday rattled her (all three days of the meet had weather interruptions).
“Oh my god, yesterday was a day and a half,” Smith said. “We started warming up at 2 p.m., we had to warm up three times, we were on and off the track, and we didn’t start jumping until after 12 at night.”
Looking ahead to the NCAA Regionals and Jamaican Trials, she said, “I’m not worried. I know what I’m capable of, and I’ll just have to prove it on the day. But not yesterday.”
Other than Smith and Brown, other big marks came from frosh Akala Garrett of Texas in the 400 hurdles, whose 54.73 broke her PR by more than a second and gave her the Olympic qualifying standard; and Gabija Galvydytė’s 2:00.42 in the 800, a PR for the Oklahoma State junior.
“We’ve had a good team all year, we just haven’t performed like it,” said Floréal, whose men also won. “There’s been a lot of uncertainty about their ability.”
But going into regionals, Floréal believes his women have momentum.
“It’s the level of effort. All I really care about is not so much the performance but the way they compete, how hard they fight, because if you keep doing that the performances will come.”
BIG 12 WOMEN’S RESULTS
Teams: 1. Texas 150; 2. BYU 98; 3. Texas Tech 96½; 4. Oklahoma State 75½; 5. TCU 64; 6. tie, Baylor & Oklahoma 51; 8. Iowa State 50; 9. Houston 45; 10. Kansas 40; 11. Kansas State 37; 12. UCF 31; 13. Cincinnati 22; 14. West Virginia 8.
100: I(-0.6)–1. Kevona Davis’ (Tx-Jam) 11.32. IV(0.2)–1. Rosemary Chukwuma’ (TxT-Ngr) 11.12; 2. *Iyana Gray (TCU) 11.24; 3. *Alyssa Colbert (TxT) 11.32.
200(-0.2): 1. **Dejanea Oakley’ (Tx-Jam) 22.60; 2. Gray 22.81; 3. *Kenondra Davis (Tx) 22.82; 4. Kevona Davis’ (Tx-Jam) 22.84; 5. **Tiriah Kelley (Bay) 22.86.
400: 1. Ziyah Holman (Tx) 50.99; 2. ***Michaela Mouton (Hous) 51.32; 3. **Rachel Joseph (IaSt) 51.60; 4. Williams 51.74.
800: 1. *Gabija Galvydytė’ (OkSt-Lit) 2:00.42; 2. Kelly-Ann Beckford’ (Hous-Jam) 2:01.33; 3. Olivia Howell (Tx) 2:02.23; 4. **Makayla Clark (IaSt) 2:02.48.
1500: 1. ***Juliet Cherubet’ (TxT-Ken) 4:09.33; 2. Sadie Sargent (BYU) 4:09.65; 3. Howell 4:09.70; 4. Jepkirui’ 4:09.75.
St: 1. Janette Schraft (IaSt) 9:58.75; 2. **Taylor Lovell (BYU) 10:08.63; 3. *Hannah Stewart (KsSt) 10:10.43.
5000: 1. *Molly Born (OkSt) 16:13.77; 2. ***Juliet Cherubet’ (TxT-Ken) 16:15.84; 3. **Jenna Hutchins (BYU) 16:17.88; 4. **Jacey Farmer (BYU) 16:18.44.
10,000: 1. Gabby Hentemann (OkSt) 34:31.91; 2. *Eva Jess (Tx) 34:35.92; 3. ***Anastacia Chepkorir’ (TxT-Ken) 34:48.13.
100H(-0.2): 1. Rayniah Jones (UCF) 12.78; 2. Yoveinny Mota’ (Ks-Ven) 13.04; 3. ***Akala Garrett (Tx) 13.30; 4. *Miracle Thompson (Hous) 13.30.
400H: 1. Garrett 54.73; 2. Sydni Townsend (Hous) 55.00; 3. ***Amelliah Birdow (TCU) 56.44; 4. ***Tia Williams (TCU) 56.63.
4 x 100: 1. Baylor 43.16 (Kelley, Hunt, Brown’, Francois); 2. TCU 43.43; 3. Texas 43.49; 4. Texas Tech 43.50; 5. UCF 43.78.
4 x 400: 1. Houston 3:29.18 (Townsend, Babineaux, Beckford’ 52.13, Mouton 51.30); 2. BYU 3:34.43; 3. Kansas 3:35.29; 4. TCU 3:35.31; 5. Baylor 3:35.66.
Field Events
HJ: 1. ***Temitope Adeshina’ (TxT-Ngr) 6-2¾ (1.90); 2. Cierra Allphin (BYU) 6-0 (1.83).
PV: 1. ***Molly Haywood (Bay) 14-5½ (4.41); 2. *Olivia Lueking (Ok) 14-5½; 3. *Rebekah Erikson (BYU) 14-1¾ (4.31).
LJ: 1. Alexis Brown’ (Bay-Hai) 22-5 (6.83); 2. *Sydney Willits (IaSt) 21-3¼ (6.48); 3. *Ackelia Smith’ (Tx-Jam) 21-2¾ (6.47).
TJ: 1. Smith’ 45-8 (13.92); 2. Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta’ (TxT-Fra) 44-8¼ (13.62); 3. Koi Johnson (Bay) 44-1¼ (13.44).
SP: 1. Marilyn Nwora (Tx) 58-2½ (17.74); 2. ***Nina Ndubuisi’ (Tx-Ger) 56-11¼ (17.35); 3. *Paige Low (Ok) 53-11 (16.43).
DT: 1. *Zoe Burleson (TxT) 189-1 (57.65); 2. *Gretchen Hoekstre (BYU) 184-8 (56.30); 3. *Betty Rosvold’ (IaSt-Nor) 175-6 (53.51).
HT: 1. *Monique Hardy (KsSt) 210-9 (64.24); 2. *Kassidy Gallagher (Ok) 207-10 (63.35).
JT: 1. ***Irene Jepkemboi’ (TCU-Ken) 182-7 (55.67); 2. ***Alysa Keller (BYU) 170-2 (51.86); 3. Enok’) 169-11 (51.80); 4. *Maria Bienvenu (TCU) 168-1 (51.25).
Hept: 1. Kristīne Blaževiča’ (Tx-Lat) 5954; 2. Bailey Golden (OkSt) 5784; 3. Urtė Bačianskaitė’ (KsSt-Lit) 5714; 4. ***Juliette Laracuente-Huebner (Cinc) 5637; 5. *Olivija Vaitaitytė’ (OkSt-Lit) 5599.
