Track and Field dominates prelims at Big 12 Championship

Published by David Wiechman/Texas SID on May 15th, 2016

Big 12 Championships: May 13-15 | Fort Worth, Texas | Lowdon Track & Field Complex
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FORT WORTH, Texas – Prelim day became positioning day for Texas Track & Field at the Big 12 Conference Championship on Saturday as the Longhorns dominated the running events and advanced runners in bunches to finals in their respective events.

Texas advanced multiple runners in four events on the men's side, plus another event that did not have preliminary heats has two Longhorns already in the final. The women's squad advanced more than one runner in five events, including two with an impressive four finalists.

"We know the men's race is going to be tight with Tech, but the more bullets we have as the day goes on is going to be very important," said Head CoachMario Sategna. "I feel like we're in a great spot. The weather has cooperated. Our support staff and managers and coaches have all done a great job. This has been a total team effort so far, and I'm excited for tomorrow."

Those "bullets" in the running events will represent huge opportunities for the Longhorns to have major point grabs and attempt to successfully defend their 2015 titles on both sides.

Speaking of point grabs, the Longhorns managed to take advantage of the field events on Saturday as well, scoring in all but one of the five held on Day Two of action, and that's only because Texas did not enter any competitors in the women's long jump.

Texas scored a strong 10 points in the men's long jump with senior Basil Fares helping guide a pair of true freshman into the final. He finished sixth whileSteffin McCarter took third and Ika Morton finished eighth. Those 10 points matched Texas Tech in the event to keep pace with the Red Raiders, who the coaches expect to be the men's biggest threat for the title on Sunday.