courtesy UT Media Relations

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Led by junior NCAA national champion Leo Manzano's Big 12 Championship in the 1,500-meter run, the Longhorns placed in the top three in the team race for the 10th time in eleven seasons in the Big 12 Conference. The fifth-ranked Texas men's track and field team finished third with 96 points, and boasted two conference champions and 21 All-Big 12 honorees at the conclusion of the meet on Sunday, May 13 at Ed Weir Stadium.

The men's team finished in third place with 96 points behind first-time Big 12 Champion Oklahoma (110.50 points). Texas Tech was second with 100 points, and Colorado (92 points) and Nebraska (86 points) were fourth and fifth in the team standings.

One of the strongest meets in recent history, the Big 12 Outdoor championship produced 320 NCAA qualifiers among 530 student-athletes. The top three teams were separated by less than 15 points, and the top five had a gap of less than 25.

Manzano (Marble Falls, Texas) won his second outdoor 1,500-meter title in the last three years. The five-time All-American ran 3:41.60 to contribute 10 points to the Texas team score. He had the third fastest time entering the meet (3:42.10), and his winning time is now the fastest time in the conference. Fellow junior Erik Stanley (Spring, Texas) bolstered the point total from the 1,500 with a fifth-place performance (3:48.57) for four points. Both returned to run top 12 times in the 5,000-meter run.

The high jump area contributed 13.50 points on the final day of competition.

Texas senior Andra Manson cleared 7-6.5 (2.30m) which at the time equaled the Big 12 meet record set by Texas ex Mark Boswell in 1999. The two-time national champion battled eventual winner Kansas State's Scott Sellers for the title with the meet record and winning height of 7-7.75 (2.33m). Manson, competing in a field that produced nine NCAA regional qualifying marks, scored eight points towards the team score in his final conference championship.

Fellow high jumpers Joel Hargett (Conroe, Texas) and Raymond Harris (Nacogdoches, Texas) had solid performances, as each met the regional qualifying standard of 6-10.75 (2.10m). Hargett , who regionally qualified earlier this year, tied for fifth (due to missed attempts) for 3.50 points. Harris equaled the NCAA standard for the first time this year in finishing seventh and adding two points to the scoreboard.

Sophomore All-American sprinter Jamaal Charles (Port Arthur, Texas) was the 100 meter dash runner-up as he posted a 10.32-second performance behind a 2.3 wind reading for eight points in the finals.

Junior Jacob Hernandez (Magnolia, Texas) finished fourth in his first outdoor league meet of his career, clocking 1:50.37 and scoring five points in the 800.

Quarter-hurdler Hamza Deyaf (Richardson, Texas) had the fifth-fastest time in the finals, blazing the track in 51.43 seconds and recording four points towards the team score.

Charles, Hernandez and Deyaf returned to run the 4x400-meter relay that ran 3:13.13.

Texas scored eight points in the triple jump, finishing fifth, sixth and eighth. Sophomore Elliot O'Hare (Austin, Texas) led the trio with a personal best mark of 51-4.25 (15.65m) on his final jump of the six-attempt series. Top-seed Samyr Laine (Newburgh, N.Y.) put points on the board, finishing right behind O'Hare with a distance of 51-3 (15.62m). Junior Joseph Davis (San Antonio, Texas) rounded out the top eight scorers with a jump of 49-8.5 (15.15m).

Senior Harvard graduate and transfer jumper Lawrence Adjah (Newburgh, N.Y.) missed the qualifying mark of 49-2.5 (15.00m) in the triple jump for the NCAA Midwest Region Championships by a ¼ of an inch, jumping a season-best 49-2.25 (14.99m).

In the final distance event of the meet, senior cross country All-American Joe Thorne (Chamblee, Ga.) scored one point with an eighth-place effort of 14:42.94. Thorne returned after running the 1,500-meter preliminary on Saturday.

The Longhorns got a lift from two unseeded scorers – sophomore Nick Baucum (Robstown, Texas) and freshman Will Paine (Houston, Texas). Baucum contributed two points with a lifetime best and seventh-place showing in the shot put (54-2.5/16.52m). Paine added ½ point in tying for eighth-place in the pole vault at 16-6.75 (5.05m).

Sophomore Dustin Bynum (Corpus Christi, Texas) placed 11th in the javelin with a throw of 185-5 (56.52m).

2007 Big 12 Conference Championships Day Three Results (Sunday, May 13) Big 12 Men’s Team Standings 1. Oklahoma – 110.50 points 2. Texas Tech – 100 points 3. Texas – 96 points 4. Colorado – 92 points 5. Nebraska – 86 points 6. Kansas – 73 points 7. Baylor – 67 points 8. Missouri – 59 points 9. Texas A&M – 50 points 10. Kansas State – 42 points 11. Iowa State – 34.50 points 12. Oklahoma State – 8 points

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