Men's 4x400, Akinosun shine on final day of Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays

Published by Texas SID on April 2nd, 2016

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AUSTIN, Texas – The excitement of the 89th Nike Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays was building to the conclusion of the 4x400 meter relays and they did not disappoint. Texas came away with a dominating win on the women's side and the men narrowly missed winning one of the tightest races of the week while shattering the school record.

Another record-performance came from senior Morolake Akinosun in the 100 meters as she became the only woman to win three straight titles in the 100 meters at the Texas Relays.

In total over the four days of action at this year's meet the Longhorns tallied six victories and two school records. Over those four days more than 7,500 athletes competed and more than 43,000 fans watched the exciting action.

"With the way that the weather was yesterday – James Barr as the Meet Director this is in my opinion the best meet that he has put together. Our facility guys went above and beyond and it makes our job a lot easier so that we can focus on our team. It helps to have performances like we did from Wednesday on. When we are able to have meets like this – where we have over 7,500 athletes compete – there's a ton that goes into it. Anything that I can do to help bolster the best athletes in America and their efforts, we will do."

Saturday's 4x400 action got the crowd of 21,006 off its feet as the Longhorns battled LSU's men around the track. The two teams exchanged the lead a couple of times over the final two legs, but it was the Tigers that edged out the Longhorns with a time of 3:01.83. Texas ran 3:02.18 with the group of Chris Irvin, Byron Robinson, AJ Bailey and Zack Bilderback besting the previous record of 3:03.33 set back in 1983.

"To end the meet like that is what the fans come for," said Head Coach Mario Sategna. "You have the local Westlake product in Chris Irvin, who leads it off, and then a senior in Zack Bilderback bringing it home. We had some phenomenal performances today."