The 2023 outdoor track season kicked off with several historic performances at the Texas Relays. On Saturday, April 1, Masai Russell of Kentucky blazed her way to a collegiate record in the women’s 100-meter hurdles. On their home track, the Texas women’s sprinters broke three collegiate records—the 4x100 meters, sprint medley relay, and 4x200-meters—in Austin, Texas.
The conditions were near perfect for a breakthrough effort from Russell. The senior won the 100-meter hurdles in 12.36, 0.03 seconds faster than the previous collegiate record set by Brianna Rollins in 2013. According to the USTFCCCA, she clocked the fastest, wind-legal time in world history this early in the outdoor season.
Russell bettered her personal best by 0.35 seconds, weeks after she set an indoor collegiate record in the 60-meter hurdles. The day prior to the race, Russell called the record-breaking performance in a pre-race interview and delivered the next day with a massive personal best.
“My PR before yesterday was 12.71,” Russell wrote on Twitter. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you you can’t do something!”
The Longhorns also made their mark on the record book over the weekend. On Friday, the quartet of Julien Alfred (22.4 for 200 meters), Rhasidat Adeleke (21.7 for 200 meters), Kennedy Simon (49.9 for 400 meters), and Valery Tobias (2:01.6 for 800 meters) broke the collegiate record in the sprint medley, running 3:36.10.
On Saturday, Alfred led-off once again in the Longhorns’ 4x200-meter relay that won in 1:28.05, which crushed the previous 1:28.78 collegiate record set by Oregon in 2017. Just 90 minutes later, the four-time NCAA champion returned to help Texas break the 4x100-meter record. The team of Alfred, Ezinne Abba, Adeleke, and Kevona Davis joined forces to shatter the 4x100-meter collegiate record, winning in 42.00 to improve on the previous mark set by LSU in 2018.
The relay performances add to Alfred’s growing collection of collegiate records. During the 2023 indoor season, the graduate student from St. Lucia broke the collegiate record in the 60 and 200-meter sprints while claiming both titles at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.
“I never want to put a limit on myself,” Alfred told the Longhorn Network. “Every time we step on the line it’s like, let’s see what we can do today.”
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
