Longhorn Nation,

 

The University of Texas at Omaha, we’re headed back to the College World Series

What more can you say than, “It’s back home in Omaha” for The University of Texas at Omaha! Like Coach Pierce said after game two of the Greenville Super Regional, this team showed its grit…and I’ll take it a step further and call it true grit! Holy cow, that East Carolina atmosphere was raucous with fans spilling out of “the jungle” onto the outfield fence, non-stop cheers and jeers, and not an inch of open space to be found. After a crazy game one where all the breaks seemed to go the Pirates’ way, and then trailing 7-2 late in game two, it would have been easy for any team to fold up shop, sack the bats, and call it a season. But like the great Tom Petty sang, “I’m gonna stand my ground, and I won’t back down,” and oh boy, did our Horns ever stand their ground! They stormed back for a walk off in the second game and produced a dominant performance in the finale to send us on our NCAA-record 38th trip to Omaha! I’ll say that again…38th! For those of you counting at home, that’s more than 50% of the 75 all-time College World Series to have the Burnt Orange and White front and center! And for Coach Pierce, it’s the third time he’s taken his squad there in the last four opportunities after COVID canceled the 2020 CWS, a year we were loaded and had our sights set solidly on it, I might add. But back to this year, neither rain nor gloom of night could keep our Horns from delivering in game three, and whoa, did it ever rain, to the tune of two delays, first before the game and then an almost FIVE-HOUR pause that sent us late into the night. However, no matter what or when, our Horns were ready! Whether it was our National Player of the Year Ivan Melendez setting the tone with a three-run bomb in between delays, or Tristan Stevens pitching for the third time in three days and producing an absolute masterpiece, or seizing momentum back from ECU with a five-run second inning after the long delay, they answered the call every step of the way in the 11-1 clinching victory! What a joy it was to see the team pour on to the field after the final out, but as our notable tradition goes, there was no dog pile to be found! It made us just the fourth team in the last 10 years to drop the opening game of a Super Regional on the road and come back to win. How about that?! And it was all made possible by one of the most breathtaking comebacks in our program’s glorious history! Trailing by five in the bottom of the seventh with two outs and no one on, we needed a spark, and that spark’s name was Trey Faltine. Hitless to that point in the series, Trey laced a double to right to set it up, and Mr. Douglas Hodo knocked it down with a two-run homer, and the comeback was on! In the eighth, it was Skyler Messinger doing the honors with a three-run dinger to tie it up before the Dylan Campbell show took the stage. First Dylan blasted a solo shot to take the lead back, and then didn’t flinch after ECU had tied it in dramatic fashion themselves in the next inning. He walked it off with a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth for the 9-8 win to keep the dream alive and send the team into a frenzy. So get this – over the course of five innings from the last three of game two to the first two of game three, our O put up 16 runs when they needed it most! Amazing! Even in defeat, our Texas Fight was on full display, coming almost all the way back from being down 7-2 in game one, as well, with the tying run 90 feet away in the eighth inning. It was a series for the history books I tell ya, and now it’s on to Omaha to open with Notre Dame on Friday (6 p.m. CT/ESPN) in a bracket that includes a couple includes our longtime rivals OU and A&M! 

And hey, you can join us to give our Horns a Texas-sized send-off to Omaha tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at the Disch! Texas Cheer and Pom, Smokey the Cannon and more will be there, it’s FREE for all fans, and the first 500 will receive a limited-edition College World Series poster! You can’t beat that! There will also be FREE parking in the East Campus Garage.

  

Ivan Melendez named Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of the Year

To the victor goes the spoils, and after a superb Super Regional victory, Ivan Melendez needs to clear some space for a trophy room. Already the Big 12 Player of the Year and Collegiate Baseball’s National Player of the Year, last week he was named a finalist for the sport’s prestigious player of the year awards, the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy. Our Longhorn first baseman and slugger is one of three finalists for the awards that honor the National Player of the Year. The numbers are eye-popping as our guy leads all of Division I baseball with 32 home runs, 94 RBI, an .888 slugging percentage and 213 total bases. He also ranks in the top 10 in on-base percentage and batting average. He’s the first player to surpass the 30-homer mark since Golden Spikes Award winner Kris Bryant in 2013, and that number just keeps going up. The man we affectionately call the Hispanic Titanic is the 10th Longhorn to be named a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award and seeking to become our first player to win it. 

 

What a year for Coach Flo and Track & Field

What a fantastic year it was for Coach Flo and our Track & Field squads! Winning our first-ever Men’s Track & Field National Championship indoors and following that with an NCAA runner-up finish outdoors, while the Women claimed the runner-up trophy both indoors and outdoors. With all four seasons resulting in top-two finishes, in addition to sweeping the Big 12 Indoor and Outdoor Championships, it’s as good of an all-around season as our program has ever had, and it’s just the beginning. Coach Flo Knows and like we said earlier, there ain’t no stoppin’ us now! The trophy case is growing fast my friends, Texas Track & Field is accomplishing great things, and we are definitely on the move! And speaking of being on the move and total team efforts, how about both of our Men’s and Women’s relay teams (4x100m & 4x400m) all scoring at the same NCAA Championship for the first time in program history?! On top of that, we had 31 of our Longhorns help out in the scoring efforts while earning first-team All-American honors. Also, the USTFCCCA announced its All-Americans on Monday, and with 37 total, our Horns had the most of any program on either the first or second team. We led the nation with the most on the Women’s side (21) and we’re tied for tops among the Men’s teams (16).

For the Men, to call the year historic would be an understatement! Winners of the NCAA Indoor Championship, our first-ever National Championship for Men’s Track & Field, then following that with a runner-up finish outdoors. Coach Flo and our Horns were in the hunt for the team title until the very end, and had a couple things gone a little different, we were right there to take it. But that second-place finish was remarkable, too, as it matched our Men’s best-ever NCAA Outdoor Championship showing, and was the best since we finished second 25 years ago in 1997. With his thunderous yell and soaring 70-foot toss, Tripp Piperi led the charge with a resounding National Championship victory in the shot put. It was the second career national outdoor title and ninth All-America honor for our school shot put record holder both indoors and outdoors. Leo Neugebauer did it across many events once again, finishing second in the decathlon with the second-best 10-event score in UT history (8,362) to boot. Jonathan Jones (400m) and Micaiah Harris (200m) provided critical points while earning first-team All-America recognition with fourth-place finishes in their events, too. Jonathan ran a pair of sub-45-second 400m dashes last week, still is the only Longhorn to ever break that barrier, and holds the top nine times on UT record in that event. It’s always great to have your relays setting the tone, and the 4x100m and 4x400m quartets had a momentous accomplishment, as well, both scoring at the same NCAA outdoor meet for our Men for the first time since 1988. The 4x400m (Jon Maas, Jonathan Jones, Willington Wright and Brian Herron) set the school-record of 3:00.31 in the semis, and the team of Herron, Wright, Caleb Hulbin and Jones went on to finish fourth in the finals, while the 4x100m ran four of the six fastest times in school history this spring, including 38.91 in semis, and finished sixth in the final. Daniel Garland, Wright, Marcellus Moore and Harris made up the All-American 4x100m foursome. Additionally, Stacy Brown, Jr. added points with a second-place finish in the long jump. All totaled, our Longhorn Men came away with 13 first-team All-America honors outdoors. 

For the Women, it was one heck of a year! Right in the thick of things the entire meet, our Horns finished second at the NCAA Outdoor Championship, matching their national runner-up result indoors. That’s the best finish for us since 2014, and the coolest thing is it was a total team effort as relays, and its key contributors, led our charge once again. The nation’s most dominant 4x100m relay team lived up to that billing, as Julien Alfred, Rhasidat Adeleke, Kevona Davis and Kynnedy Flannel passed the baton to bring home a national title in that event. That group broke a 24-year-old school-record earlier this year and finished the season with the five best times in school history! Capping the meet, our 4x400m (Adeleke, Kennedy Simon, Alfred and Stacey Ann Williams) earned first-team All-America honors, as well, as that quartet took second place. And how about Julien, closing out an undefeated season in the 100-meter dash with an awesome race in the finals to become the fifth Longhorn ever to win the women’s national title in that event. She broke Longhorn Legend and USTFCCCA All-American Carlette Guidry’s 30-year-old record earlier this year with a blistering 10.81 at the Big 12 Championship, and added the second-fastest time in UT history at the NCAAs. Julien also ran legs on the winning 4x100m relay and second-place 4x400m relay. What an awesome meet she had! All the sprinters rallied together to produce tons of points and were key to our success. Other scorers and first-team All-American efforts included Tyra Gittens (long jump/3rd), Valery Tobias (800m/6th), Stacey Ann Williams (400m/5th), Kennedy Simon (400m/3rd), Kynnedy Flannel (200m/4th), Kevona Davis (200m/5th) and Ackelia Smith (triple jump/4th & long jump/8th). All totaled, our Longhorn Women came away with 18 first-team All-American honors outdoors.

And to cap it all off, our Men’s program was tabbed the USTFCCCA John McDonnell National Program of the Year. That honor goes to the nation’s most outstanding Track & Field and Cross Country program. How cool is it for Coach Flo to receive an honor named for his former coach, coaching mentor and a legendary Hall of Famer?! It certainly is well-deserved for a Men’s squad that turned in a terrific year on the track, in the field and on the cross country trails. What a year it’s been for the entire program, and Coach Flo has an awesome thing going here in Austin. The future of Track & Field is so bright you’re gonna need shades my friends! 

Softball makes it all the way to WCWS Championship Series, finishes as NCAA runners-up

What a fabulous ride Coach White and our Softball squad took us on the past few weeks. From unseeded to Seattle and Fayetteville with one wonderful win after another in advancing from the NCAA Regionals to the Super Regional. Then, it was on to Women’s College World Series where more epic victories followed, taking us all the way to the Championship Series. It was a marvelous run, and there were heroes at every turn on the road to Oklahoma City, along with pathfinders that led the way to get us there as the first unseeded team in WCWS history ever to get that far. You could never count them out, and they indeed were the most dangerous team out there! We took the nation by storm, our amazing group of ladies became the darlings of the tournament as their bright smiles, engaging personalities and love for the game shined through in a momentous postseason. I absolutely well up when I think about how proud I am of this group and honored to have them in the Burnt Orange and White. It was a glorious trip, and though we didn’t get the ultimate prize, our NCAA runner-up finish was the best-ever for our program. It took one of the greatest teams in the history of the game to knock us off. And looking back at all the challenges, adversity they overcame and Texas Fight they displayed in 2022, we are just thrilled they finished the year as the second-best team in the nation! Spectacular senior leaders Janae Jefferson, our record-setting second baseman extraordinaire, catcher Mary Iakopo and pitcher Hailey Dolcini shined all season long. Janae will go down as one of the greatest Longhorns ever, while youth was served, as well, with freshman third baseman Mia Scott and sophomore shortstop Alyssa Washington, All-Big 12 honorees, turning in extraordinary seasons. First baseman/outfielder Katie Cimusz and pitcher Sophia Simpson were Big 12 All-Freshman team selections, too. Then, there are the three standouts that shined on the brightest stage in earning WCWS All-Tournament honors – sophomores Estelle Czech, Courtney Day and Bella Dayton. Estelle powered the pitching staff with a pair of big wins, Courtney finished the event as Texas’ all-time career leader in WCWS home runs (three) and RBIs (eight), and Bella hit an impressive .350 while providing us with one of the most monumental moments of the WCWS by racing all the way around the bases to score the winning run to beat No. 6/7 Oklahoma State and send us to the national finals.

And Longhorn Nation, you showed up and showed out in Oklahoma City to push us. As the phenomenal television ratings attest, there were millions of you watching and celebrating right alongside us, too. What this team did and how they competed on offense, defense, in the circle and beyond was truly a game changer for the excitement around the sport nationwide. The fight and determination this team displayed has the pride flowing through us all. Our Longhorn Legend Cat Osterman said it best when she Tweeted, “You captured our hearts and showed what grit and dream chasing looks like!” The accomplishment was great and the season a blast, but most importantly, it sets the stage for bigger and brighter days ahead. Congratulations Coach White and Texas Softball, can’t wait for next year!

 

 

Can’t wait to see y’all at McCombs Field next season, secure your spot now!

I know that WCWS run got you amped up for Texas Softball, and now’s the time to make sure you’ve secured your space in the stands for every game at McCombs Field next season. Purchase a 2023 Softball season ticket deposit TODAY for only $60 per seat. Deposit holders will get the first selection of available season tickets in loyalty points order on a first-come first-served basis.  

Peyton Stearns joins elite company as Honda Sport Award winner

Although she begins her journey in the professional ranks this week, Women’s Tennis sensation Peyton Stearns continues to receive recognition for her tremendous collegiate season and career at Texas. Late last week, Peyton was named the recipient of the Class of 2022 Honda Sport Award for Tennis. She becomes the first player in program history to win the Honda Sport Award for Tennis and the first Longhorn in any sport to be recognized as a Honda Sport Award recipient since Courtney Okolo of Track and Field in 2016! Prior to Courtney’s win, the last Longhorn to claim this honor was Softball’s Cat Osterman in back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006. The Honda Sport Award has been presented annually by our friends at the Collegiate Women Sports Awards (CWSA) for the past 46 years to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports and signifies “the best of the best in collegiate athletics.” Peyton is now a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the prestigious 2022 Honda Cup, which will be presented during a live telecast on CBS Sports Network on June 27 at 8 p.m. Central. Two Longhorns have previously won the Honda Cup as the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year, as Swimming’s Jill Sterkel accomplished the feat in 1981 and Basketball’s Kamie Ethridge followed in 1986. 

Men’s Golf continues to haul in postseason awards and U.S. Open preview

To the victors go the spoils, and this certainly applies to our National Championship-winning Men’s Golf team. The Big 12 Conference rolled out its postseason awards last Friday, and your Longhorns were well-represented. For an incredible ninth time during his tenure at Texas, John Fields was selected in a vote of the league’s coaches as the Big 12 Coach of the Year. In a league that sent four teams to the Match Play portion (final eight) of the NCAA Championship, that’s saying something! In addition, the trio of Pierceson Coody, Cole Hammer and Travis Vick were each named to the 10-person All-Big 12 Team. Our three selections tied Oklahoma State for the most honorees on the all-league squad. Congrats to Coach Fields, Pierceson, Cole and Travis, so well-deserved! And while we’re on the subject of Golf, we need to send our best wishes for success to the group of four Longhorns who will be competing later this week in the 122nd U.S. Open Championship in Brookline, Mass., just outside of Boston. Beau Hossler, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and rising senior Travis Vick will all be representing the Burnt Orange and White at this year’s third Major championship. Vick, who will be competing as an amateur, earned his spot in the prestigious field through Sectional Qualifying just prior to the NCAA Championship.

Coach O’Neill tabbed CRCA Region 3 Coach of the Year

No surprise here, Coach O’Neill, the captain of our Rowing back-to-back NCAA Champions has repeated as the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) Region 3 Coach of the Year. It marks the fifth time in seven seasons leading our program that he’s received that honor, and ninth time overall, including his time at Cal. Kudos to Coach O’Neill and our entire program for all of the outstanding success this season. 

Big-time Academics

Although we’re into June, we’ve still got some big-time academic honors rollin’ in. None are bigger in the Big 12 than the Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarships, and we’ve got two outstanding recipients this year in Nevin Arimilli from Men’s Tennis and Julia Cook from Women’s Swimming. Nevin’s going to be working on his master’s in business analytics after graduating in finance, and Julia’s looking ahead to a physical therapy program following her degree in exercise science. Now those are two well-deserved scholarships, and we know you’ll both do big things with them!

In addition to that great honor, we also had three student-athletes earn Academic All-American honors in the men’s at-large sports division. The trio of tremendous Longhorns recognized for their success in their sports as well as the classroom are Jake Foster and Drew Kibler, both All-Americans for the NCAA runner-up Swimming & Diving team, and Cole Hammer, All-American on our National Championship Golf squad. Earlier this spring, Foster received the Big 12 Men’s Swimming & Diving Scholar Athlete of the Year award.

And as we head to Omaha, let me say what a great job our Baseball team did in the classroom, too…count ’em up with 16 making it on the Academic All-Big 12 team with 13 of those on the first team! Congrats and a big Hook ‘Em to all of you: Silas Ardoin, Cam Constantine, Mitchell Daly, Justin Eckhardt, Douglas Hodo III, Lebarron Johnson, Eric Kennedy, Ivan Melendez, Aaron Nixon, Murphy Stehly, Tristan Stevens, Travis Sthele and Austin Todd on the first team, along with Dylan Campbell, Andre Duplantier II and Trey Faltine on the second team. Great work, gents!

Alabama game is sold out, limited Football season tickets remain

Well folks, season tickets have been going at a fast and furious pace, so if you haven’t gotten yours, you’re running out of time! Today we announced the highly-anticipated game against Alabama is officially sold out of individual tickets. That means the only way to secure tickets for the game is by purchasing Football season tickets, which include seven home games for the first time since 2010. You better hurry up before they’re gone! There is still time to get those tickets and guarantee your spot at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium this fall for the epic Texas-Alabama game and our exciting seven-game home slate. Take a look at the map here, dial us up or learn more about it on TexasSports.com. DKR will be the place to be all season long, so don’t miss out. There are a number of different options to consider, from your traditional season tickets to premium seating options and the UFCU Field Club location, just call 512-471-3333 (Monday-Friday/9 a.m.-4 p.m. CT) to discuss or read more about it right here.  

A record-setting year filled with four National Championships, 10 top-two finishes and outstanding games, matches and meets abound. We’re not done yet and will be pulling hard for Baseball as they make one final statement in our quest for defending our Learfield Director’s Cup all-sports championship. In the famous words of legendary USA Hockey Coach Herb Brooks, “This is your time, now go out and take it.” Get those Horns Up Longhorn Nation! Let’s do this!!

Hook ‘Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte 

Chris Del Conte

P.S. — We absolutely caught the nation by storm and millions watched our amazing WCWS run! 

P.S. — This is so cool! Congratulations Jill, you’re the absolute best!!

P.S. — Beyond grateful for this great Longhorn. Tripp brought the passion each and every day and epitomizes the pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas!

P.S. — Volleyball Big 12 Schedule is out!

P.S. — We THANK YOU Janae!

P.S. — Teamwork makes the Dream Work!