15,931. Very poor for a Texas Relays, and a real shame considering what a perfect day this was. I hope UIL figures this problem out for next year. I’m done. I hope somebody was out there reading! Feedback welcomed either in the comments section below or on the message board. Have a good weekend.

The Cleburne Price Jr. 4×400: Last race of the meet. Most of the top teams in nation here. Baylor wins with a huge surge in lap 3. USC closes down the stretch, but Baylor holds for a 3:02.38 win. Waitaminnit! The USC guy is not carrying a baton. None of us are quite sure what happened, but it appears USC has been DQed. LSU moves up into 2nd with a 3:04.33. Baylor splits:

1. 46.5
2. 45.8
3. 45.3
4. 44.5

university women: There will be two races (NOT combined heats), and USC wins the supposedly less prestigious one in 3:34.37, a regional qualifier. The “invitational university” race, the big one, is next. LSU easily wins in 3:29.72 over Texas A&M’s 3:32.21. LSU splits:

1. 53.6
2. 51.3
3. 52.0
4. 52.6

high school boys: Great race! First four under the previous national leader:

1. Leander 3:14.95
2. Arlington Bowie 3:15.90
3. DeSoto 3:16.22
4. Lancaster 3:16.24

high school girls: Another meeting of Lancaster and Long Beach Wilson. Can Lancaster sweep? Yes they can: Lancaster 3:43.60. LB Wilson second in 3:45.22. Lancaster splits:

1. 56.8
2. 55.4
3. 57.2
4. 54.1

Times: Waco All-Stars (Witherspoon, Ayre, Williamson, Wariner) 3:00.65, HSI (Neville, Ferguson, Willie, Everhart) 3:02.94, USA Red (Clement, Brew, Spearmon, Rock - not the correct order) 3:04.68.
Seriously: Relay teams, even if it’s these pro invitational teams, need to all wear the same color uniforms. That’s why I got confused.

Argh again. I am a failure as a split taker. Spearmon ran the second leg, I got confused with the crowd, but I THINK he ran a 46.1. But the more accomplished Shawn price clocked Wariner in 43.5. The’ve already removed times from the scoreboard; I’ll get them ASAP.

Invitational men: Just because of the interest in Spearmon, I’ll clock his team instead of Wariner’s. I assume everyone else in the stadium is clocking Wariner.
USA Red wins in a stadium record 3:23.49. I’m pretty sure I got the splits right:

1. Robinson 52.3
2. Hastings 50.4
3. Floyd 51.3
4. Richards 49.3

Okay, let’s see if I can do a better job of getting splits in this race. I’ll be tracking USA Red: Former Longhorn Moushaumi Robinson, Natasha Hastings, Ebony Floyd, Sanya Richards. Getting splits on the first exchange will be tough from this vantage point, but I can guarantee I’ll nail Richards’ split.

Augh! I just realize I took Manzano’s splits in the reverse positions from how I should have. I’m an idiot. But forget that: The important thing is that Leo Manzano of Texas breaks the meet record in 3:56.98, uses a 26.1 last 100 to pull away from Cloud County’s Julius Bor (3:58.72). Texas’ Darren Brown also gets under the magic barrier with a 3:59.99.
now for the mile: There are no markers to tell me where to take the quarter-mile splits, but I’ll try to eyeball Manzano’s times.

Actually, the University women’s 1500 is up first, although I’m not expecting huge fireworks from it. In the mile, I suspect Texas Leonel Manzano will be gunning for Seneca Lassiter’s meet record of 3:59.09 from 2000, and I bet teammates Kyle Miller and Jake Morse (the latter an unattached redshirt) will be pacing him. Actually, that women’s 1500 was faster than I expected: UTEP’s Kelly Young wins in 4:24.03.

Invitational men: Richard Thompson LSU 10.00! Beats the 10.13 of Rae Edwards.
University men: Don’t worry about wind, flags are hanging limp. GREAT field. GREAT race: Holliday catches Phiri at line, 10.20-10.22, Florida State’s Garvin 10.33.

Great invitational women’s 100: LSU’s Kelly Ann Baptiste wins 11.06 (wind 1.9), Texas’ Anderson 11.10, A&M’s Facey 11.11.

I must have missed Greeley’s remaining jumps. It appears Colwick has won the PV, and the bar is being raised to 5.65. Misses on his first attempt. I’m going to move this over to a 100 thread now.
On the track, big college women’s 100: Texas A&M soph Porscha Lucas easily in a legal 11.20, USC’s Carol Rodriguez 11.34.
Colwick over 5.55 with a brush. Greeley misses.

On the track: Klein Collins’ Brittane Gaines wins HS 100 in 11.89 (legal), Nneka Enemkpali of Pflugerville 11.91.

Bar will go up to 5.55 (18-2 1/2).

3rd attempt for Maston: Nope. Kicks the bar.

2nd attempt: This will be a national leader if made. Wallace gets over but catches bar coming down. Colwick clears with plenty of room to spare. So does Greeley.

Bar is at 5.45 (17-10 1/2), only Maston Wallace of Texas, Jason Colwick of Rice, and Mitch Greeley of Clemson left. All miss on first attempt.

Boys:Blake Shaw of Cypress Falls builds a ridiculously huge lead with a 61 first lap and is never challenged, 4:15.62.
Girls: Chelseay Sveinsson of Greenhill is clearly the class of this field, building a huge lead with opening splits of 66 and 2:20. She is currently ranked third in nation with a 4:49.37 mile. Meet record for 1600 is 4:48.16. She smashes it with a 4:44.70. That’s 4:46.4 for one mile, topping Jordan Hasay’s national leader.

invitational: Loaded field, including Aries Merritt, Jermaine Cooper, Dudley Dorival, and Bashir Ramzy. Merritt pressed a bit but not really threatened, wins in 13.48, followed by Ramzy 13.61 and former Longhorn Cooper 13.63.

university men: Florida State’s Drew Brunson dominates with 13.61, well ahead of LSU’s Ryan Fontenot 13.87 and USC Taylor Logan 13.88.
But first, in the men’s PV: Wallace and Paine of Texas and Colwick of Rice all just easily cleared 17-0.

Final attempt at 7-8 3/4. Once again, too early. But nice to see the crowd focused on a field event for once.

Trying again: Too early again, comes down on bar.

Manson, 2nd attempt: A loud noise comes from the highway and Manson balks.

On the track, Brandon Tucker of Lewisville wins the boys 110 hurdles in 13.86, wind 1.1.

Either Sellers missed his last attempt and I didn’t catch it, or he passed. Manson is now attempting 7-8 3/4. Jumps way too early, right into the bar.
3rd attempt: Manson makes a great clearance!

2nd attempt: Manson knocks it off with his butt. Sellers almost identical, does same.

At 7-7 3/4 (2.33) Manson misses first attempt. So does Sellers.
Bar goes up to 7-7 3/4, which would be a meet record.

College women hurdles: Nickiesha Wilson of LSU clocks a legal 12.85.

High school hurdles: Olivia Amy of Mesquite Horn runs 14.39 into a headwind; that will put her on the national list.

Third attempt: Got it!

Sellers, 2nd try: kicks it off again. He’s getting over the bar but clipping it with his heels on the way down.

Bar is at 7-6 1/2. Only Manson and Sellers left. Manson clears, no problem, huge “Woah!” from the crowd. Sellers kicks the bar off.

INVITATIONAL MEN: Fantastic field. USA Red includes Patten, Spearmon, Aries Merritt, J.J. Johnson. USA Blue has Tyson Gay on anchor. Wow! Tyson Gay bobbles the handoff from Mike Rogers but still hauls down J.J. Johnson for a 38.63 win for USA Blue. USA Red clocks 38.79, USA White 38.89. Gay says it’s the first time in seven years he’s actually anchored a relay.
Men’s high jump bar is at 7-4 1/2: Manson, Sellers, and someone from South Plains. Manson easily over!

THE INVITATIONAL WOMEN: Marshavet Hooker and Sanya Richards side-by-side on the anchors. Can Richards beat Hooker over 100 meters? Well, she can if the gets the baton with a huge lead, given to her by USA Red teammates Muna Lee, Torri Edwards, and Carmelita Jeter. Easy win over Hooker’s Start All-Stars, 42.25 vs. 43.06. Breaks the meet and stadium records of 42.28.

high school boys: Waxahachie hoping to follow up on their 4×2 victory. No, this time it’s narrowly Lewisville, 41.43. Waxahachie just behind in 41.50.

That javelin throw by Corey White earlier in the meet was an NCAA leader by about three and a half meters. The mark was officially 78.29, or 256-10. He easily defeated previous leader Alex van der Merwe of UTEP (71.86).

high school girls: Lancaster and Long Beach Wilson again. Lancaster does it again, 46.53, with Klein Collins 46.86 and Wilson 46.93.

university women: Another great A&M/LSU battle! This time Texas A&M comes out on top, 42.97 to 43.10.

Great university men’s race. LSU holds off a hard-charging A&M, 38.74 (just .1 off meet record) to 38.90. Florida State (I didn’t see a Walter Dix) third in 39.16.

There will be a break for the opening ceremonies (no, I’ve never been able to figure out why the “opening ceremonies” come in the middle of the last day), and then action will resume at 2pm CST with the 4×1s. It looks like the crowds have gotten bigger, but I’d still say the crowd is about 3,000 less than usual. (See my previous rant about how the UIL’s scheduling of district meets this same weekend was going to hurt attendance and the quality of the high school field.)

Given the distance he had to make up, I’m certain Kosgei broke 4 on that anchor.

Tough going without Manzano. Miller’s 4:07.4 isn’t enough, as LSU wins in 9:40.66, almost a five-second win. I assume that was John Kosgei on the anchor for the Tigers.

Hernandez splits 1:47.4, now Kyle Miller anchors for Texas. The field is gaining on him.

Leg three: I’m clocking Texas. Jacob Hernandez.

It’s early yet. Still a tight pack. Texas, which set a world record in the event indoors, is currently leading.