Texas 12th in national rankings
Texas is in 12th place and is the top-ranked Big 12 school in the Division I Learfield Directors’ Cup standings, the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics announced this week.
The announcement came after the completion of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball championships.
Texas is also the topranked school in the state with 520.5 total points.
Stanford has 962.25 points to lead the competition, followed by Wisconsin and Ohio State.
The Longhorns took top-10 finishes in four NCAA Championships to earn 356.5 points in the winter. They won the title in the men’s swimming and diving cham- pionships and came in fifth on the women’s side.
Swimming and diving: The Texas men’s and women’s teams swept all 10 Big 12 postseason awards, the con- ference announced.
For the men, Will Licon and Mark Anderson were named swimmer and diver of the year. Freshman diver Grayson Campbell was named newcomer of the year.
On t he women’s si d e, Madisyn Cox was named the swimmer of the year for the second time, and Alison Gibson was honored as diver of the year. Gibson also shared the newcomer of the year award with West Virginia’s Morgan Carr.
Eddie Reese was named men’s swimming coach of the year while Matt Scoggin was named diving coach of the year for the men and women. Carol Capitani was named the women’s swim- ming coach of the year.
Rowing: The Longhorns’ second varsity eight was named the Big 12’s boat of the week. Texas won the second Grand Final at the San Diego Crew Classic last weekend. at least 2.5. In softball, that number can’t dip below 2.0. Texas has played 32 baseball games (20-12) and 35 (20-15) softball games.
McCann’s 57 at-bats divided by Texas’ 32 games equals 1.8, which means he’s 22 at-bats short of qualifying. Ellsworth’s score is 1.6; she would need 13 more at-bats to satisfy the conference’s minimum standard.
The NCAA has different criteria. Players from both sports must participate in 75 percent of their teams’ games to be eligible for the NCAA batting title. Baseball and softball batters must also average 3.0 and 2.5 plate appearances per game, respectively.
Ellsworth would rank third in the country in hitting if she were eligible.
It’s still impressive that McCann and Ellsworth, both local products from nearby Cedar Ridge and Georgetown high schools, are even in this conversation.
McCann, who wasn’t on UT’s roster last seaso n, entered this year with 19 career at-bats to his name. And Ellsworth should be playing Rouse High School instead of Oklahoma on Friday, but she joined the Long- horns in January after enroll- ing at UT early this semester.
Crimson clashes: Oklahoma’s baseball and softball teams will both be in Austin this weekend for three-game series. Red River Rivalry fans should be able to schedule makeshift Texas-OU doubleheaders at McCombs Field and UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Each day, the start times for the games are separated by either 2½ or three hours:
Friday — Softball, 4:30 p.m. at McCombs, LHN/105.3; baseball, 7 p.m. at DischFalk, FS1/104.9.
Saturday — Softball, 1 p.m., LHN/105.3; baseball, 4 p.m., LHN/104.9.
Sunday — Softball, noon, LHN/105.3; baseball, 2:30 p.m., LHN, 104.9.
Oklahoma’s softball team, the defending NCAA champion, is 32-7 and ranked 11th in the country. The Soon- ers’ baseball team is 26-6 and is ranked 16th. Texas is unranked in both sports.
In baseball, senior outfielder Zane Gurwitz (eight hits, four RBIs) boasts the best career numbers against Oklahoma. Senior Kelli Hanzel has produced five runs, four hits and three RBIs in eight softball games against the Sooners.
Getting ready: Byron Robinson placed second to Utah State’s AJ Boully in the 400-meter hurdles at last weekend’s Texas Relays. The senior’s performance was underwhelming — a time of 49.93 seconds was more than a second off his personal best — but he wasn’t discouraged.
Friday’s competition wa s his first appearance in a hurdling event this spring. Primarily a sprinter during the indoor season, he admitted his rhythm was off as he readjusted to jumping. He said that past experiences lead him to believe it takes two months to make the transition between seasons.
“I’m not too mad about it,” Robinson said. “I like where I’m at. It’s a stepping- stone, (running) a 49. I’ll go on from there.”
At last year’s Relays, Robinson tripped over a hurdle and finished 79th in a 79-man field. He was later the first to cross the finish line in the showcase’s invi- tational event, but he exited the weekend with times of 68.45 and 50.48 seconds.
Six weeks later, though, he was the Big 12 champion in the 400-meter hurdles (49.39 seconds). He then placed ninth in the same event at the Rio Olympics (48.65 seconds).
Huston-Tillotson University will honor several former Negro League baseball players Saturday and April 15.
The Rams baseball team will host the Texas College Steers at noon Saturday. After the game, former Negro League players Joe Lewis, Marion Shaw, Richard “Lefty” O’Neal, Everett Turner, Raymond “Red” Hardee, Allen Hicks and Clif- ton Fifer will be honored.
Estella Wells, daughter of the late Willie Wells, is scheduled to represent her family at the event. Willie Wells, a superb hitting and fielding shortstop from Austin, was a Negro League All-Star and also played in Canada, Mexico and Cuba. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
Admission to Saturday’s game and the program after- an assists, later and ward is free.
The Diamonds in the Outfield Scholarship Gala fundraiser will be at 6 p.m. April 15 at the Hilton Austin, 500 E. Fourth St. The event will include dinner, entertainment, a dance, hall of fame awards and a tribute to former Negro League players in attendance.
The gala will also honor the legacy of Jackie Robinson, who broke major league baseball’s color barrier in 1947. In 1944-45, Robinson coached the men’s basketball team and taught physical education at Samuel Huston College, which merged with Tillotson College in 1952 to form what is now Huston-Tillotson University. Robinson also served on the Huston-Tillotson Board of Trustees.
Tickets for the gala are $140. For more information, go to htu.edu.