After four days of intense track and field, everyone - athletes, coaches, maintenance crew and reporters - needed a break. The Texas Relays are that draining.
Now, after a week off, the Longhorns get back on the same track Saturday.
The Longhorns return to Mike A. Myers stadium for the Texas Twilight, their last home meet of the season, which pales in comparison to the Texas Relays. For head coach Bubba Thornton, Saturday is about getting back to business.
"[Texas Twilight] is another opportunity for us to do what we are trying to do as a team: get guys to compete at a higher level," Thornton said. "We want to see that high-level competition with more consistency and get more qualifying performances on the regional and national levels."
This weekend's Texas Twilight might not be as large as the four-day Texas Relays, but Thornton wants to see the same level of performance even without the atmosphere of the huge meet.
"The competition itself will be very good," Thornton said. "This weekend is part of the process to getting the team together for winning a conference championship in Boulder."
Less than a month away from the Big 12 Championships, Thornton is looking for a strong performance this weekend to jump-start his team's run at another league crown to complement the Longhorns' indoor title from earlier this year.
"It is all about the consistency - performing consistently," Thornton said. "If we continue to improve every week - if this weekend we keep up the Texas Relays intensity and level of performance - we will get a confidence in ourselves."
Thornton knows that confidence from consistency, regardless of the size of the meet, will pay off.
"By the time we get to Boulder, we won't have to try to step it up," Thornton said. "We will be there already. We won't be asking them to do anything they haven't already done. Then you add in the adrenaline from being a conference championship and good things will happen."
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