Starting Friday, many of the top athletes in Texas, Oklahoma and a handful of other states will converge upon the University of Texas-Austin to take part in the historic Texas Relays. While many of the top sprint schools will not be taking part this year, some great head-to-head match-ups top the schedule.
Top Draws at the Texas Relays - Rachel Laurent (LA) v. Shade Weygandt (TX) in the girls pole vault - The Tabor cousins (OK) take to the boys shot put and discus. - Blake Shaw (TX) and Chelsey Sveinnson (TX) lead the 1600m runs. - Lancaster (TX) v. Houston Lamar (TX) in the girls 4x4. - Deep boys field in the pole vault, led by Jack Whitt (OK) and Chase Cooper (CO) - Southlake Carroll (TX), led by Colby Lowe, enters the boys 4x8 and DMRTexas Relays (TX)
Texas Relays: MileSplit Meet Page / Official Website
Texas Relays Start Lists: Boys / Girls
TXRunning.com Texas Relays Preview
The 81st Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays take place this weekend at the University of Texas-Austin and the talent present should one again be top notch. Every year many of the top athletes in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and a handful of other state, converge on the UT campus to take part in this annual extravaganza. While a scheduling conflict left some great sprint talent off the roster in this year's version, the Texas Relays are still a site to see.
Leading the way in terms of head-to-head competition is the Rachel Laurent (Sr., Vanderbilt Catholic, LA) versus Shade Weygandt (Jr., Mansfield, TX) match-up in the girls pole vault. These two have been rivals since last year and are continually looking to one up the other. During the indoor season the two traded U.S. #1 ranking in the event numerous times, and while Laurent broke the 14-00 barrier and captured both indoor national titles (NIN/NSIC) in the past month, Weygandt powered over 13-09.5 last weekend to capture the Texas state record, as well as the junior national class record. With both athletes vaulting so well lately this event is perhaps the highlight of the weekend.
Another headliner on the girls side is the Lancaster (TX) versus Houston Lamar (TX) match-up in the 4x400m relay. Both squads are running great this season and each have run under 3:47 in the event. Lancaster blazed 3:45 while Houston Lamar has already gone 3:46. With such deep sprint talent in the Lone Star State, expect this event to be incredibly fast and do not be surprised to see either one of these squads dip into the 3:43 range.
The top three individual events on the boys side are the pole vault, discus and shot put. Both events mix top out-of-state talent and in-state talent, while featuring deep fields. In the boys shot put no less than five athletes have already cleared the 60 foot barrier this season, led by the Tabor cousins, Geoffrey Tabor (Sr., Ardmore, OK) and Cameron Tabor (Jr., Norman, OK). The Stanford-bound Geoffrey is the number two outdoor retunree from 2007, while Cameron is the number three returnee and the top ranked junior. Three Texans follow closesly behind, as Michael Barbas (Sr., Jersey Village, TX), Alex Adams (Sr., Covenant Christian, TX) and Michael Carter (Sr., Red Oak, TX) have all throw 61-09 or farther this season. Between these five athletes, expect a new U.S. #1 to emerge.
The discus offers similar fields as the shot put. Geoffrey Tabor last year ranked U.S. #1 in the event with a throw of 209-5 and should win the event rather easily, however, it will be interesting to see just how far he can throw and how close he can get to the national record of 234-03. Meanwhile, the boys pole vault offers a field comparable to the throwing events. Led by out-of-staters Jack Whitt (Norman North, OK) and Chase Cooper (Smoky Hills, CO), as well as in-state talent Blaine Bassler (West, TX) and Greg Gabrisch (Kingwood, TX), the event may have four or five athletes break the 16-00 mark and test the 17-00 foot barrier. While all four are nearly equal on paper, Whitt has to be the pre-meet favorite after showing incredible consistency in his performances this winter and early spring.
While the sprint relays will all be fast and furious, the top boys team to watch is perhaps Southlake Carroll (TX). The squad shows incredible strength in the 4x800m relay and DMR after coming off of an incredible cross country campaign. Led by Foot Locker finalists Colby Lowe and C.J. Brown, Southlake Carroll could do some real damage in these two events.
The boys and girls 1600m runs should be interesting to watch as well. While Colby Lowe will be helping out his teams' relays, Blake Shaw (Sr., Cypress Falls, TX) looks to impress on the boys side. Shaw became the first prep athlete in the nation two weeks ago to break the 1:50 barrier for 800m, while running a stellar 1600m last weekend in 4:13. While he has nearly a seven second seasonal PR over the rest of the field, he could attempt to go after a sub-4:10 if he so desired. Meanwhile, superstar freshman Chelsey Sveinsson (Greenhill, TX) will be taking on all-comers in the girls 1600m race. Sveinsson took the track world by storm at Nike Indoor Nationals, breaking 4:50 in the mile and winning the 800m dash in 2:11. Her outdoor season has seen continued success and she will have some talent pushing her a bit early on, assuming she doesn't run away from them in the first 200 meters as she tends to in big meets.
Two other notable individuals are Rachel King (Wichita Falls, TX) in the girls 100m hurdles and Craig Lutz (Marcus, TX) in the boys 3200m run. King ran an incredible 13.52 in the event early this outdoor season, which would have ranked her eighth individually in the nation last spring. While it remains to be seen if she can duplicate such a performance, she'll be going after the meet record of 13.57 certainly. Lutz is another story. While he isn't the pre-race favorite in his event, he is only a freshman. It is rare to see freshman break under 9:20 in the 3200m. It's considered great in nearly every state if a freshman boy breaks ten minutes in the event. Well, Lutz already has a time of 9:20 to his name and will be looking to go much faster this weekend. While there is a slew of young talent across the nation currently, Lutz is the best freshman thus far.
With so much talent, Friday and Saturday in Austin will be quite a spectacle. It always seems like things really start to heat up after the Texas Relays take place and with much anticipation over this year's event, expect much of the same for the 81st time in a row.