24 Longhorns secured bids to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon

At the recent regional track meet at Texas A&M in College Station, Longhorns (including sprinters, hurdlers, long jump, shotput, and distance runners) nailed down 24 bids (12 Texas men and 12 Texas women) to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, set for June 9-12. Texas head coach Edrick Floréal is hoping the team will win a national title.

Among those who will be competing are Yusuf Bizmana (1:49:03) and Crayton Carrozza, who will be running the and 800. Crayton punched his ticket with a 1:49:43 at the Regional meet at Texas A&M. His PR for the distance is 1:47.

The NCAA Outdoor Championships will take place at Eugene’s legendary Hayward Field, made famous by running great Steve Prefontaine.

“The way the year turned out, the longer Crayton can stay short and stay relevant, the easier the 1,500 pace will feel when he moves up. Because of COVID, the team didn’t do as many west-coast meets as usual,” said his dad, Paul Carrozza, who heads up the Born to Run program.

Crayton, who is just finishing his sophomore year at The University of Texas, is competing as a “COVID” freshman.  He will run the 800 semifinals on June 9, in the hope of advancing to the finals on June 11. It will be his first trip to the famed Hayward field.

“He cares a lot and he’s training well,” said Paul. “If he posts a 1:46, he’ll be eligible to run the 800 in the Olympic trials.”

Ready to Run blog readers might recall that Crayton has already gone sub-4 for the mile, a feat that he accomplished on a 200-meter indoor banked track at the John Thomas Terrier Classic Track Meet at Boston University last year, posting a 3:59.82—making him the fifth-fastest indoor miler in school history. He’s also showing tremendous promise at middle distances, with an 8K time of 24:23.8 at the Big 12 Championships.

Upcoming Races: Sunday, July 4 at 7:00 a.m., Popsicle Run 4 Miler at Negley Elementary School in Kyle. Saturday, July 17 at 6:30 a.m., Stars and Stripes Half Marathon/5K/10K in New Braunfels.