OXFORD, Miss. \u2013 The No. 11-ranked Ole Miss men and the Rebel women are among the many elite track and field squads participating in this week\u2019s 86th Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays in Austin.<\/p>\n
One of the top outdoor track meets in the nation, the Texas Relays will host 874 teams and 6,407 total athletes during the week.Among the top men\u2019s teams to participate are No. 1 Texas A&M, No. 3 Florida, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 Auburn, No. 6 Oregon, No. 9 Florida State, No. 10 LSU, No. 11 Ole Miss, No. 12 UCLA, No. 14 Mississippi State, No. 16 Texas Tech, No. 18 Indiana, No. 22 Oklahoma State, No. 23 Kansas State and No. 25 Iowa State.<\/p>\n
Top women\u2019s teams include No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Oregon, No. 4 LSU, No. 5 Texas, No. 6 Texas A&M, No. 7 Florida, No. 10 Clemson, No. 11 UCF, No. 12 Arkansas, No. 13 Baylor, No. 17 Texas Tech, No. 21 Auburn and No. 24 UCLA.<\/p>\n
Competition begins Wednesday with the men\u2019s decathlon and women\u2019s heptathlon and runs through Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the South, you have the Texas Relays and the Florida Relays, which are the best relays there are in the country,\u201d head coach Brian O\u2019Neal said. \u201cThey attract the best competition. We\u2019re going to get in there and mix it up with them, and we\u2019re hoping to come out with some favorable performances. It\u2019s top-flight competition in every single event, so it\u2019s going to be a lot of the same people you compete against at nationals. That gives our athletes a chance to see where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of the Rebels\u2019 top athletes are expected to make their outdoor season debut in Austin, including 2012 Olympian Isiah Young in the men\u2019s 100 meters and 2013 Indoor All-American Asia Cooper in the women\u2019s 100 meters.<\/p>\n
Rebels who rank highly in the nation after last week\u2019s outdoor opener in Starkville include sophomore Haley Cutright in the women\u2019s 3,000-meter steeplechase (4th, 10:32.96), sophomore Shari Russell in the women\u2019s long jump (10th, 19-11.75), senior Anne Threlkeld in the women\u2019s 3,000-meter steeplechase (16th, 10:48.10), junior Benjamin Lapane in the men\u2019s javelin (26th, 216-5), senior Sofia Hellberg-Jonsen in the women\u2019s 400-meter hurdles (29th, 1:00.63) and freshman Onyi Afoaku in the men\u2019s discus (32nd, 177-8.25).<\/p>\n
A few members of the Ole Miss team will also be competing at the UCA Open in Conway, Ark., on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"