Thousands of fans adorned the stands of the Mike A. Myers Track and Soccer Stadium on the final day of the 81st Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays on Saturday.
"The Texas Relays is always a great environment," said sophomore Betzy Jimenez of the No. 12 Texas women's track and field team. "The crowd does a lot for firing the athletes up."
The highlight of the race was All-American junior Alexandria Anderson, who recorded a lifetime best in the 100-meter dash with a regional qualifying 11.10 seconds. Anderson also raced the lead leg of the 4-by-400-meter relay. Junior Katara Rosby and senior Temeka Kincy completed the middle sections of the race allowing senior Chauntae Bayne the anchor. The team finished third with a comfortable qualifying time of 3 minutes, 29.72 seconds.
Jimenez anchored the Longhorns' third-place distance medley relay team. Jimenez crossed the finish line, trailing Texas Tech and Baylor for 11:18.61 overall. Texas Tech broke the meet and stadium record of 11:10 with an 11:01 finish in the event.
Senior Maria Townswick completed the opening 1,200-meter section of the DMR before handing off to Kincy for the 800-meter portion. Rosby crossed the finish line in the 400-meter segment allowing for Jimenez's mile finish.
"We've built a relationship and we work hard during practice," Jimenez said. "We each expect the best out of each other."
Jimenez said that as an anchor she cannot see her teammates fight and then provide any less herself.
Former Longhorns were in competition in Saturday's events. Sanya Richards and Moushaumi Robinson led the USA Red team to a win in the 4-by-400-meter relay invitational. Richards also competed in the 4-by-100-meter relay with fellow Texas ex Marshevet Hooker. Michelle Carter placed first in the shot put.
Rosby led the horns on Wednesday, day one of the meet. The All-American junior recorded an NCAA qualifying mark in the 800-meter run with her 2:08.71, third place finish. Sophomore distance runner Asia Myrland registered another third place finish for Texas with a season best time of 17:31.75 in the 5,000-meter run.
"The Competition was tough out there," Myrland said. "There was always someone to race against. I rarely had to speed up or slow down to find a body to run against."
The second day of competition proved more challenging for the Longhorns. Jordan Brown neared her season-best distance in the hammer throw with a toss of 47.54 meters. Brown also placed in the top 5 in the shot put in Saturday's field events. Redshirt sophomore Britney Orville and junior Kendall Fisher competed in the 400-meter hurdles, finishing 1:03.83 and 1:07.78, respectively.
Texas sophomore Lauren Salisbury led the action on Friday. In her first 3,000-meter steeplechase of the year, Salisbury placed fourth in just over 10:55. Bayne had the 15th-fastest time out of 71 competitors in the 100-meter dash preliminaries in 11.78 seconds.
Senior Alandra Sherman and freshman Chantel Malone each achieved personal honors on Friday. Sherman completed the 100-meter hurdles in 13.72 seconds, a season best performance. Malone leapt a career best 19 feet, 1.25 inches in the long jump. She also placed fifth in the triple jump on Saturday soaring a lifetime best and regional qualifying 42-6.75.
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