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 "Photo: Susan Allen Sigmon")
Olympians had just broken the stadium's 4x400 relay record, and most runners at the Texas Relays were in awe of the USA team's 3:25.90 performance.
"Don't get too excited," senior Raasin McIntosh said to her teammates. "That record won't last 20 minutes."
Minutes later, four Longhorns ran a record-shattering, collegiate track-rattling 3:23.75 to break the record by almost three seconds. Sophomores Sanya Richards and Sheretta Jones and freshman Jerrika Chapple stood stunned at the finished line, while McIntosh couldn't contain herself, instead running around shouting like a woman on fire.
The celebration embodied McIntosh's style over her four years as a sprinter and hurdler. The senior has come a long way since helping Houston Westbury win four consecutive high school track titles. But even now she is only beginning to control the fire.
"She was downright dangerous, but as good as she was in high school, she was virtually untapped in her ability," Kearney said. "Even now we're just at the tip of the iceberg - not even at the base."
McIntosh began running track in middle school and traded time between basketball and track in high school. From the first meet, Westbury track coach Rose Brimmer knew she had something special.
"I told her, 'My best athletes do hurdles,'" Brimmer said. "She cried to get out of it. I told her if she fell the first time, she could quit.
"She fell - but didn't quit."
At the core of Westbury's four-peat of titles was McIntosh, LSU national champion Stephanie Durst and current WNBA forward Alyana Walker.
Over her career, McIntosh's pure athleticism was on display in practices but grew to higher levels in games. In training her teammates pushed one another, but something internal came ablaze at competitions.
"She would practice hard but become a monster during meets," Brimmer said. "She was a star. She'd come out in March after basketball and make state in April."
McIntosh capped her high school career at the 1999 World Youth Championships in Poland, traveling to Europe with two teammates.
She won five individual state titles at Mike A. Myers stadium, and Texas coach Bev Kearney watched each one. But little did Kearney know that McIntosh was watching Texas too.
"She recruited us," Kearney said. "Raasin knew where she was going to go, and there was no denying when I visited that I had to sign her."
Because of her athleticism, McIntosh quickly transitioned to collegiate track. Her freshman and sophomore years, she placed third at nationals in the 400-meter hurdles and ran the second leg on Texas' conference-champion 4x400 relay teams.
Kearney quickly learned how to harness McIntosh's ability.
"The last thing you need to do is fire her up. If anything, you give her a sense of direction and keep her focused," Kearney said. "Her freshman year at nationals in 400 hurdles, I gave her too much information and it broke her focus."
Entering McIntosh's third season with UT, Kearney's absence made discipline even more important. But as her coach made a return, McIntosh turned the heat up to another level.
At the 2003 national championships, McIntosh scored a combined 16.5 points, individually earning more than most teams. The third leg on the winning 4x400 team, second in the 400 hurdles, third in the 100 hurdles - McIntosh was on fire once again.
But the flames rose once again as she won the U.S. championships in the 400 hurdles. Along with Sanya Richards and Moushami Robinson, the trio competed at the World Championships in Paris.
In the semifinal heat of the 400 hurdles, McIntosh fell on the eighth jump. But the exposure on the world stage made the setback an even bigger incentive to return to international competition.
"Sometimes I'll fall, but the hurdles are just obstacles," McIntosh said. "I don't fear them.
"They're just incentives to make me better, and since I was a little kid, I wanted to be remembered in the Olympics."
As the outdoor season begins to wrap up with the Big 12 and national championships, McIntosh's long-time teammates have seen her mature and raise performances every meet.
Everyone can tell when McIntosh is ready; all but flames shoot out of her eyes.
"I can tell when she's in the zone, because we've worked together so long," senior Alyssa Aiken said. "I can tell when she will drop a big time because she takes it to another level."
From the conference to the national championships, McIntosh hopes to bring home titles and prepare herself for the Olympic Trials in July.
While it remains a personal goal, making the Olympic team will be a tribute to McIntosh's pair of coaches.
"Coach Kearney and Brimmer are two great women. They believed in me," she said. "It takes someone to be in your corner. They're greatly responsible for my success."
But like Brimmer did, Kearney must let McIntosh go as she graduates this spring. Her records, locker and relics will remain, but McIntosh leaves more than material things behind when she becomes a professional athlete.
"Her passion, it's irreplaceable." Kearney said.
But as the Olympic flame enters Greece this summer, it may not be the torch that ignites the ceremonies.
It might be Raasin.
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