Sports
No. 13 Men’s Track & Field advance four events to NCAA Championships finals
EUGENE, Ore. – The No. 13 Texas men’s track and field program advanced four events to the finals on the first day of the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships at Hayward Field, hosted by the University of Oregon. The men will compete in Friday’s finals along with Kelsey Daniel in the triple jump and Osawese Agbonkonkon in the high jump.
The men’s 4×100-meter relay led off by Kendrick Smallwood, John Rutledge, Almond Small and Xavier Butler advanced to Friday’s final on time finishing eighth overall with a time of 38.70. They finished third in Heat 3 and posted the fourth-fastest time in UT history.
Smallwood later advanced to the 110-meter hurdle final winning Heat 3 with a time of 13.26. It ties his fourth-fastest time in UT history and now owns the top eight times in school history.
Junior Kody Blackwood qualified for his first 400-meter hurdles final at the NCAA meet in his third attempt after posting the third-fastest qualifying time of 49.09. The time ranks as the 19th-fastest in UT history.
Butler returned to the track in the 200-meter dash and earned a spot in the final in his first-ever NCAA Championship appearance. Butler finished with a time of 20.12 – the third-best time in Texas history.
The Longhorns ended the day in the 4×400-meter relay with Blackwood, Logan Popelka, Chris Brinkley Jr., and Rutledge finished the day with a time of 3:04.15. The quarter finished 12th overall and all earned USTFCCCA Second Team All-America honors.