University of Texas Austin - Cactus Yearbook (Austin, TX)

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One Giant Leap for a Price When Texas ' indoor season became filled with the back-wind from other uni- versities ' sweat and elbows, Coach Cle- burne Price declared that UT was defi- nitely more of an outdoor team. We ' re too long and lanky to run the boards effectively in indoor meets. Texas got to prove Price ' s point in their first outdoor meet by outclassing Baylor, North Texas and TCU at Memo- rial Stadium. Price was overwhelmed by some early season performances of his team. Ricky Raggett placed third with a 1:51 .66 in the half mi e. Pole vaulters Tim Taft, Keith Sanders and Monte Hamilton finished one, two, three with vaults of I 7- 0, 16-6, and 15-6, respectively. The 400- meter relay pulled off a last place anchor leg, ran by Herkie Walls, to win in 40.35. Walls came from behind in the 100- meter to win with a 10.36, qualifying him for the NCAA outdoors in June. Koech outdistanced the 12-man field to win in the 5000-meters in 14:23.38 with fellow teammate Pedro Rivero in second with I 14:23.39. Robert Scott and Clifton Mur- ray leaped to first and third finishes in the long jump, chalking up distances of 24-4 and 24-2, respectively. UT lost its second outdoor meet in the City of Palms Invitational in McAllen. Baylor captured first, Texas A M took third and Rice took fourth. Texas won only four events to the Bears ' I 6, Aggies ' three, and the Owls ' two. Texas winners included shot putter Kelly Brooks with a toss of 60-1 I, Robert Scott in the long jump with a leap of 24-7, Owen Hamilton in the 880 at 1 :52.l I and Karl Smith with a 14.00 in the I 10-meter hurdles. Apparently not suffering from the Texas Relays, the Horns turned in eight first place finishes in the Angelo State Relays. We sent some really good peo- ple and expected to run tough, said Price. Baylor was strong . . . but we gave them a run for their money, he added. Placing second behind Baylor, the Horns won the shot put and high jump with the help of Kelly Boroks and Desmond Morris. The 440-meter relay team of Karl Smith, James Wheatfall, Reggie Sardner and Gary Roberson ran a 40.2 I to win that event as well. We were pretty young this year and had very few seniors. We didn ' t know how they were going to perform, Price said. We just expected them to do the best that they could. Personally ... I think they all did well. Pete Saravis winds up during last year ' s relays. FIRST ROW: Spence Jefferies, Christopher Bucknall, Gary Roberson, Jeff Lind- say, Barry Coffman, Sam Qualcoe, Bart Boles, Francis Garbrah, Fridrik Oskars- son, Marlon Pottinger. SECOND ROW: James Turner, Agust Thorsteinsson, George Tarr, Andrew Daniels, Hugh Spooner, Sam Chilton, Monte Hamilton, Geoffery Koech, Robert Overton, Lawrence Johnson, Tommories Cade. THIRD ROW: Gregory Watson, Robert Scott, Keith Sanders, Brian Sharpe, Paul Schu- mann, James Wheatfall, Bob Schultz, Danny King, Desmond Morris, Ian Staple- ton, Oddur Sigurolsson, Fredrick Acorn, McCurey Walls. FOURTH ROW: Har- ris Argo, Thomas Schutze, Ricky Faggett, Kelly Brooks, Timothy Taft, Marc Not- zon, George Collins, Wayne Johnson, Reggie Garner, Geoffery Crawford, Karl Smith, Richard Longoria. Dwight Davis. Men ' s Track 143

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men ' s track 142 . - INDOOR Oklahoma Invitational 3rd Albuquerque Jaycee no score Dallas Invitational no score Lobo Invitational no score LSU Invitational 1st Southwest Conference 5th NCAA Championship OUTDOOR Baylor-North Texas-TCU-Texas 1st Border Olympics 2nd Rice Invitational I st Kansas St.-Rice-NTSU-Texas I st City of Palms Invitational 2nd Texas Relays no score San Angelo Invitational 2nd Baylor Invitational no score Texas A M Relays no score LSU-Wisconsin-Texas . SWC Championships I, I

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men s c.c, Texas A M Invitational 5th Westlake Invitational 2nd Texas Invitational 3rd Southwest Conference 2nd NCAA District 6 3rd NCAA Championships 26th Murphy ' s Law Slows Pacers After a second place finish in 1976, the Texas Men ' s Cross Country team slowly dropped to a disappointing sev- enth place finish in the 1979 conference race. But with a strong recruiting season by Coach James Blackwood, Texas lumped to a second place finish in the Southwest Conference, third place in the NCAA District 6 and 26th place in the NCAA National Championships in 1980. Texas started the season with a disillu- sioning last place finish in the Texas A M Invitational. After the meet was over, James Blackwood said that the Westlake Invitational over the next weekend would be a good, true test of strength and speed and the team proved him right by finishing second behind Pan Ameri- can. This race (at the Friday Mountain Ranch near Austin) was a true cross coun- try race, Blackwood said of the five mile run. It was run through a ranch, with hills, uneven ground and mud. We had creeks to jump too, and one of them was about I 5 feet wide and a foot deep, so it was a good, true test. Texas was paced by a fifth place finish by Richard Longo- ria; seventh place by Jason Griak; ninth place by G. R. Tarr; tenth place by Agust Thorsteinsson; and sixteenth place by Brian Sharpe. Texas then hosted its own Invitational at Kurth-Landrum Golf Course in Georgetown. Geoffrey Koech, who fin- ished third, typified the Texas team as they also finished third behind Baylor and Houston. It was not the best of times, and it was not the best of totals, Encircled by Southwest Conference runners, G. R. Tarr competes in a meet at Kurth-Landrum Golf Cou but overall the ' Horns finally began to look like conference race contenders. We beat teams today who have beaten us earlier. Blackwood said. . . . and Baylor and Houston could be within our capabilities at conference. Overall, Blackwood was pleased with the team ' s performance. Baylor won the Texas Invitational with 49 points, and Houston was second, with Texas third. Despite Texas ' good showing, there were still some problems that arose. Jason Griak became ill after three miles of the ' race, and Richard Longoria and G. R. Tarr each were plagued through- out the race by stomach cramps, which affected the team s scoring. Points were received by Pedro Rivero who placed fifth; John Helmick who placed 17th; Brian Sharpe who placed 35th and Agusfl Thorsteinsson, 43rd. With the Southwest Conference meel approaching, Coach James Blackwooc reflected upon last year ' s seventh place finish. We have a shot at third or fourth in the overall points total, said Black-l wood. But with Texas youth, they sur-j prised everyone by finishing a distanl second to five-time conference chamj pion Arkansas. Geoffrey Koech anc Pedro Rivero broke up the Razorback otherwise sweep in the meet by placinc second and third respectively. John Hel-| mick, Jason Griak, Drew Daniels, Richarc Longoria and G. R. Tarr finished I3th| 24th, 29th, 30th and 33rd respective! ' pushing the Longhorns to an eight poin-j margin over third place Baylor. 144 Men ' s Cross Country