85th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays Results

Austin, TX – Up against elite NCAA Division I competition in every event, Academy of Art University track and field still held its own Friday at the 85th Annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays. At Mike A. Myers Stadium for their first action of the meet, ART U impressed with a new program record in the women's 4x400m relay, had two Urban Knights finish in the upper tier of the 100m hurdles, and saw freshman Jaylon Hicks qualify for Saturday's finals of the 100m dash.

“It was a good day for the program,” head coach Charles Ryan said. “The girls reset the school record in 4x4 and that was a very good accomplishment. I thought they responded well to event's competition. They weren't afraid of it and that's a good sign for their growth and development.”

Academy of Art continued to drop its time in the 4x400m relay with the quartet of senior Jazmin White, junior Dominique Berry, junior Vashti Thomas, and sophomore Chantel King teaming up for program's new top time. In a race which featured opponents such as Arkansas, LSU, and host Texas, the Knights rose to the challenge by posting a 3:49.57 mark which edged out Houston Baptist among others.

Individually, Thomas and junior Briana Stewart both turned in strong results in the 100m hurdles. Thomas would capture 6th overall out of the 74 competitors with a new ART U record time of 13.32 to qualify for the finals which will take place tomorrow in the conclusion of the meet. Stewart completed the event in the second lowest time of her career (13.77) to take 21st.


ART U's lone male competitor was freshman Jaylon Hicks who posted an impressive 10.68 in the preliminaries of the 100m dash, qualifying him for tomorrow's final. In his return to his home state, the Houston, TX native finished 8th overall out of 27 total runners and was fractions of a second off his personal record set last weekend in Pasadena.

“Vashti and Jaylon handled their business today and this was just the first steps in what we came here to do,” Coach Ryan said. “I'm not going to get too excited for them doing what they are supposed to do. Each will have extremely difficult races tomorrow and we will see how they go.”

The Texas Relays are set to resume Saturday, Mar. 31 for the fourth and final day of action at Mike A. Myers Stadium.