Big 12 Women — Sub-42 Relay As Texas Steamrolls

Horizontal jumps doubler Ackelia Smith took the world lead in the long jump.  (TEXAS ATHLETICS)

NORMAN, OKLAHOMA, May 12–14 — Texas keyed its big team win at the Big 12 Champs with an historic 4 x 100, becoming the first collegiate women’s foursome to break 42-seconds, a barrier that only 8 nations have breached.

With Julien Alfred on leadoff, the other relay teams struggled just to get into the same camera frame. She blitzed her leg and handed a big lead to Ezinne Abba. The grad transfer cruised the backstretch to 400 star Rhasidat Adeleke. By the time the Irishwoman delivered to anchor Kevona Davis, the squad had a 15-meter lead. Davis made it bigger.

At the finish, the picture read 41.89, giving the squad of four different nationalities its second Collegiate Record of the year, bettering the 42.00 it set at the Texas Relays 6 weeks earlier.

Said Longhorn mentor Edrick Floréal, “The exchanges were actually not that good because it had rained and things were a little wet and the marks didn’t stick to the ground. So we went with the safer passes.” Looking ahead to the NCAA back home in Austin, he noted, “Nationals is an emotional meet. Competing at home could be tremendous or it could be more pressure.”

Multiple individual victories by Ackelia Smith and Alfred helped Texas to its 197-point total. Smith soared to a world-leading 23-2¾ (7.08) long jump, landing just short of the 23-5¼ (7.14) CR that Tara Davis-Woodhall set as a Longhorn. The big leap came in round 3; she passed the rest.

The triple was a little chancier. Rūta Lasmane of Texas Tech led the first round with her 44-8¾ (13.63), Smith only reaching 44-5½ (13.55). On the next go-round, she flew into the lead with a 45-1½ (13.75); then mostly watched as the Latvian tried to catch her. Smith took only one more jump, a round 4 foul, but Lasmane could get no closer.

For her part, Alfred crushed the 100 field with a 10.84 (0.2). Just short of her best of 10.81, it ranks as the No. 4 performance in collegiate history. The speed came as no surprise after her windy 10.74 heat (3.4) the previous day. The 200 came an hour after the 100 final, and a 22.28 was enough for Alfred to finish ahead of teammate Davis (22.51).

The other big Texas wins came in the 400 (50.58 for Adeleke), the heptathlon (6146 for Kristīne Blaževiča) and a 4×4 that won without Alfred or Adeleke. It was a fourth-straight Longhorn win, with the closest pursuer, host Oklahoma, 70 points back.


BIG 12 WOMEN’S RESULTS

(5/12—10K, HT, JT; 5/13—St, PV, LJ, SP, heats)

Teams: 1. Texas 197; 2. Oklahoma 127; 3. Iowa State 107½; 4. Texas Tech 93½; 5. Oklahoma State 80; 6. Baylor 54½; 7. Kansas State 48; 8. Kansas 46; 9. TCU 43; 10. West Virginia 21½.

100(0.2): 1. *Julien Alfred’ (Tx-StL) 10.84 (CL) (x, 4 C);

2. *Kevona Davis’ (Tx-Jam) 11.04; 3. Ezinne Abba (Tx) 11.04; 4. Kennedy Blackmon (Ok) 11.19; 5. *Rosemary Chukwuma’ (TxT-Ngr) 11.21; 6. **Iyana Gray (TCU) 11.25.

Heats: I(3.2)–1. Chukwuma’ 10.94w; 2. Blackmon 10.94w; 3. Davis’ 10.94w. II(3.4)–1. Alfred’ 10.74w (a-c: x, =2 C); 2. Abba 10.93w.

200(0.3): 1. Alfred’ 22.28; 2. Davis’ 22.51; 3. *Mariah Ayers (Bay) 23.08; 4. Blackmon 23.10; 5. Abba 23.23; 6. Gray 23.32.

400: 1. *Rhasidat Adeleke’ (Tx-Ire) 50.58; 2. Kennedy Simon (Tx) 51.22; 3. Lanae Thomas (Tx) 51.89; 4. **Imaobong Nse Uko’ (Bay-Ngr) 52.13; 5. Ayers 52.19.

800: 1. **Gabija Galvydyte’ (OkSt-Lit) 2:03.66; 2. Valery Tobias (Tx) 2:05.35; 3. ***Makayla Clark (IaSt) 2:05.56; 4. *Brooke Jaworski (Tx) 2:06.18.

1500: 1. ***Billah Jepkirui’ (OkSt-Ken) 4:15.74; 2. Yazmine Wright (Ok) 4:17.06; 3. *Gracie Morris (TCU) 4:19.61; 4. *Taylor Roe (OkSt) 4:19.90.

St: 1. *Ceili McCabe’ (WV-Can) 10:12.79; 2. *Lona Latema’ (Ks-Ken) 10:17.30; 3. *Janette Schraft (IaSt) 10:21.92; 4. ***Payton Hinkle (OkSt) 10:28.34.

5000: 1. Cailie Logue (IaSt) 15:54.60; 2. Annamaria Kostarellis (Bay) 16:02.99; 3. *Taylor Roe (OkSt) 16:12.09; 4. *Dana Feyen (IaSt) 16:24.41.

10,000: 1. Logue 34:28.86; 2. Feyen 34:35.65; 3. **Molly Born (OkSt) 34:37.13; 4. *Madelynn Hill (IaSt) 35:12.65.

100H(1.0): 1. Demisha Roswell’ (TxT-Jam) 13.02; 2. Kaylyn Hall’ (IaSt-Can) 13.17; 3. ***Naomi Krebs’ (TxT-Ger) 13.33; 4. *Emelia Chatfield (Tx) 13.39.

400H: 1. *Sylvia Schulz’ (TxT-Ger) 56.32; 2. Daneesha Davidson (Ok) 56.43; 3. Ashonti Warner (Ok) 56.52; 4. *Gontse Morake’ (Bay-SA) 57.02; 5. Zakiyah Amos (IaSt) 57.99.

4 x 100: 1. Texas 41.89 CR (old CR 42.00 Texas ’23) (Alfred’, Abba, Adeleke’, Davis’);

2. Baylor 43.75; 3. Oklahoma 43.84; 4. Texas Tech 43.85; 5. TCU 44.57.

4 x 400: 1. Texas 3:30.38 (Simon, Helbling, Oakley, Chatfield); 2. Iowa State 3:31.02; 3. Texas Tech 3:33.83; 4. Oklahoma 3:35.53; 5. Oklahoma State 3:36.51; 6. Baylor 3:37.31; 7. TCU 3:37.54.

Field Events

HJ: 1. Rylee Anderson (Ks) 6-0 (1.83); 2. ***Evelyn Lavielle (Tx) 5-10¾ (1.80); 3. Claire Moreau (Tx) 5-9¼ (1.76).

PV: 1. **Olivia Lueking (Ok) 13-11¼ (4.25); 2. ***Cassidy Bradshaw (Ok) 13-7¼ (4.15); 3. Ryleigh Redding (TxT) 13-3½ (4.05).

LJ: 1. **Ackelia Smith’ (Tx-Jam) 23-2¾ (7.08) (WL, CL) (2, 2 C) (22-1½, 21-8¼, 23-2¾, p, p, p) (6.74, 6.61, 7.08, p, p, p);

2. ***Pippi Lotta Enok’ (Ok-Est) 21-10 (6.65); 3. *Shalom Olotu (KsSt) 21-½w (6.41) (20-11¼/6.38); 4. *Bailey Golden (OkSt) 20-11¾ (6.39).

TJ: 1. Smith’ 45-1½ (13.75); 2. *Rūta Lasmane’ (TxT-Lat) 44-8¾ (13.63); 3. *Anne-Suzanna Fosther-Katta’ (TxT-Fra) 44-1¼ (13.44); 4. *Onaara Obamuwagun’ (TxT-Ngr) 43-3¾ (13.20).

SP: 1. Payden Montana (Ok) 57-11 (17.65); 2. *Marilyn Nwora (Tx) 56-9½ (17.31); 3. **Chrystal Herpin (Tx) 54-8¼ (16.67); 4. *Field Gatlin (TxT) 53-11¼ (16.44); 5. **Grace Thompson (KsSt) 53-2¼ (16.21); 6. Malin Smith (TxT) 53-1 (16.18).

DT: 1. Smith 185-1 (56.41); 2. Emily March (IaSt) 182-9 (55.70); 3. Herpin 170-7 (52.01); 4. ***Tamaiah Koonce (KsSt) 169-8 (51.71).

HT: 1. **Kassidy Gallagher (Ok) 221-10 (67.62); 2. *Emma Robbins (KsSt) 220-1 (67.09); 3. *Kaitlyn Burson (IaSt) 209-8 (63.91); 4. **Monique Hardy (KsSt) 199-5 (60.79).

JT: 1. **Sydney Juszczyk (TCU) 165-4 (50.40); 2. ***Pippi Lotta Enok’ (Ok-Est) 159-8 (48.66); 3. **Kassidy Sani (Ok) 149-11 (45.71); 4. *Kayla Kurtz (Ok) 148-11 (45.41).

Hept(5/12-13): 1. *Kristine Blazevica’ (Tx-Lat) 6146 (13.38, 5-9¼/1.76, 40-1¼/12.22, 24.32, 20-5/6.22, 135-7/41.34, 2:13.57); 2. *Urte Bacianskaite’ (KsSt-Lit) 5541; 3. **Olivija Vaitaityte’ (OkSt-Lit) 5515; 4. **Sydney Willits (IaSt) 5446; 5. **Ariel Pedigo (Ok) 5437.