Texas is getting the job done and more in Spring sports

Every Texas spring sports team remains in the running for national titles as they head to the NCAA Championships over the upcoming three weeks. The Longhorns have produced Big 12 championships in three sports – rowing, women’s track and field and women’s tennis – with baseball still to be decided.

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Here’s a look at where the programs, besides baseball, stand as of May 16:

Men’s golf

Texas is competing in the NCAA East Lansing Regional through the afternoon of May 17, and heads to the final round fourth in the competition. The top five teams and top individual not on one of those teams qualify for the NCAA Championships, which will be held May 26-31 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

The Longhorns entered this year’s postseason with a streak of 15 consecutive NCAA Championship appearances, dating back to the 2008 season, the longest current streak in NCAA Division I men’s golf.

Texas finished fourth in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma, TCU and Texas Tech.

Men’s tennis

The Longhorns headed to the NCAA Regionals as the top-ranked team in the nation after finishing second to TCU in the Big 12 Championship match. In the NCAAs, Texas hosted the first two rounds, beating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and then Pepperdine to earn a spot in the Sweet 16.

The Longhorns then defeated No. 14 North Carolina in another home match to advance to the Elite Eight, punching their ticket to Orlando where they will face the nine seed South Carolina on Thursday on the USTA National Campus.

It marks the third time in the last four tournaments and five of the last nine that Texas has reached the quarterfinals, including 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2021. In all, it is the 18th quarterfinals appearance in program history.

Men’s track and field

The Longhorns finished second in the Big 12 meet held in Norman, Oklahoma May 14-16, posting 125.5 points to end up well behind Texas Tech (175 points). 

The runner-up performance was led by Yusuf Bizimana as the Longhorns’ lone individual champion in the meet, taking the 800-meter with a personal best time of 1:45.82. The showing moved him to No. 2 on the Texas All-Time performer list and currently leads the NCAA heading into the NCAA West Preliminaries, which will be held May 24-27 in Sacramento.

The NCAA Outdoor Championships will be conducted June 7-10 in Austin.

Women’s golf

The Texas women’s golf team finished tied for third place at the Palm Beach Regional at PGA National to punch their ticket to the NCAA Championships. The Longhorns were seventh in the Big 12 Conference tournament despite entering the event at No. 8 in the nation, the highest of all the league’s teams.

Texas will be making their seventh straight appearance and 31st overall appearance at the NCAA Championships, which will be competed May 19-24 at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.  

The Longhorns are one of four programs that have advanced to the NCAA Championships in each of the last seven seasons (Southern California, Stanford and Florida State). 

Rowing

No. 2 Texas Rowing garnered three top-three seeds for the 2023 NCAA Division I Rowing Championships, will be held May 26-28 at Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, New Jersey. The Longhorns were tabbed the top seed in the Four for the second consecutive year, while the Longhorn I Eight is seeded second and the II Eight set in third. 

Fresh off an eighth consecutive Big 12 title, the two-time defending NCAA Champion Longhorns will look to become the second rowing program to win three consecutive national titles and the first since Ohio State accomplished the feat from 2013-15. 

Softball

Texas is the 13th seed and will host an NCAA Regional this weekend, with Texas A&M, Texas State and Seton Hall filling out the bracket. The Longhorns are currently 10th in the latest USA Today/NFCA Coaches and seventh in the latest ESPN.com/USA Softball polls with a 42-13-1 record.

The Longhorns advanced to the Big 12 Championship title game for the first time since the 2005 season before losing to No. 1 Oklahoma. Texas has never won the NCAA championship but was the runner up, to the Sooners, in last year’s Women’s College World Series. 

Women’s tennis

The eighth-ranked Longhorns have advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight after beating No. 9 Pepperdine in the Sweet 16 on Saturday in Austin. Texas will play No. 1 North Carolina in the NCAA quarterfinals on Wednesday at the USTA National Campus.

Texas earned its third consecutive and 13th all-time appearance in the NCAA quarterfinals in program history with Saturday’s victory. The Longhorns have now earned trips to the ‘Elite Eight’ in 1984, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2021, 2022 and 2023.  

The Longhorns who won the Big 12 Championship after sharing league’s regular-season title with Oklahoma, have now captured the Big 12 tourney championship in four of the last five events and a total of 13 times.

Texas is seeking to claim its third straight and 10th all-time appearance in the NCAA semifinals.

Women’s track and field

The No. 1 Texas women’s track and field team won its fourth consecutive Big 12 Outdoor Championships title May 14-16 in Norman, Oklahoma, scoring a staggering 197 points, the second-most in Big 12 history behind the Longhorns’ women in 2021 (207 points).

The title marks the longest win streak in Texas history for both the men and women and gave coach Edrick Floréal his 13th Big 12 trophy in 18 championship appearances. The women have now won eight of the last nine conference meets in both indoor and outdoor. 

The Longhorns were led by high point performer Julien Alfred, who scored a remarkable 22.5 points after winning the 100-meter, 200-meter and led the 4×100 relay on the opening leg. 

The Longhorns’ Ackelia Smith was the runner-up in the high point scorers after winning the women’s triple jump on her second attempt with a jump of 13.75m (45-1.5). She now owns the top six performances in Texas history. 

Texas broke the 4×100 collegiate record it set at the Texas Relays with a time of 41.89. The team of Alfred, Ezinne Abba, Rhasidat Adeleke and Kevona Davis now have the two fastest times in NCAA history and both were recorded during the 2023 season. 

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The Longhorns will be a force to be reckoned with at the NCAA West Preliminaries, which will be held May 24-27 in Sacramento and at the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 7-10 in Austin.