DirectorsCupUpdates

Cross Country Preview: The Texas Longhorns have historically not excelled in Cross Country. There may be a variety of reasons for this in the past but most recently it has been apparent that Coach Flo has prioritized the limited scholarships that are shared between T&F and CC for non-distance running athletes. Texas has rarely had strong Cross Country runners or athletes who excel at distance events during the Track and Field Season. In 2022, Texas hired Greg Metcalf to lead the Cross Country teams and I was curious if this would lead to a more serious approach to distance running. Coach Metcalf was previously a coach at Washington and won CC national championships on the women's side with the Huskies. A google search will show that his time ended in Washington with some athlete complaints around issues such as verbal abuse. His tenure at Texas was brief, and while he did bring Texas a top 10 finish on the Men's side in 2023, his tenure at Texas quietly ended with him doing little to rehab his image. Sarah Smith now serves as the assistance coach who oversees M&W CC and distance events. Under Coach Smith, the women's team made it to nationals last year and finished in last place while the mens team finished in the top 5 at regionals. For the women Eva Jess and Olivia Howell were the top finishers at nationals as seniors. They were followed by returners Elizabeth Pickett, Sydni Wilkins and Brighton Mooney. None of the runners finished in the top 100 overall. In the early season, against low level competition, the longhorns have swept the podium with the above mentioned returners leading the way along with Sophomore Kaylin Rendon entering the mix. It does not appear that any new comer on campus is going to make a major impact on the team. On the Men's side, early results point to Freshmen Aidan Torres as the lead runner on this squad along with senior Nathanael Berhane and fellow fish Jaoquin De La Cruz. All 3 of the runners finished behind athletes from lower division Texas schools so I am skeptical they will be able to finish ahead of the Division 1 programs we will be facing in the SEC championships and regionals. Directors' Cup Spin I have always said that distance athletes are the most valuable athletes in regards to the Directors' Cup. Someone who can run at an all-american level in CC, indoor and outdoor track can add a lot of overall points to the Directors' Cup tally. Unfortunately, Texas Track and Field, even when at their best, typically doesn't provide a lot of resources to this program. Hopefully with scholarship limits a thing of the past, and a roster limit of 45, Texas can rise to the top of the CC world once they start providing full rides to a full host of CC athletes. Fortunately, qualifying for the NCAA Championship is based on the teams finish at regionals with the top 2 teams being Automatic Qualifiers. Arkansas has ruled the roost in the South Central Region but Texas has often been just good enough to finish second and make it to nationals. This year, they are not ranked in the top 2 in the region at this juncture but real competition doesn't start until next month. An AQ for NCAA championships means at least 43 points, even with a last place finish. Finishing in the top 5 at regionals, something both teams should be able to do everywhere, equates to 27-28 points. Id expect both teams to do that and keep our fingers crossed for something better.

Awesome recognition for Ella who has had a great bounce back season after losing her starting spot at times last season. Our hitters are killing it (literally) and it all starts with the assists from Ella.

Go ahead and give her SEC Freshman of the year! And she will battle her teammate, Torrey Stafford, for SEC player of the year!

Here is an interesting stat, Texas has 145 shots with 66 on goal and their opponents also have 145 shots with 69 on goal. The difference, Texas has 15 goals while their opponents have 24. This could reflect less effective defense comparatively, but more than likely it means we have worse goalie play compared to our opponents. We are scoring 1.5 goals a game and giving up 2.4. Last year we scored 2.2 goals a game and only gave up 0.86. That is a goal per game difference of -2.24 goals between the two years.

https://x.com/TexasSoccer/status/1969858996166086821?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^tweet Soccer continues to struggle. Bright spots, Freshmen Striker Ava McDonald nets two goals. Amalia Villareal nets a PK but also missed one earlier in the match. Defense and goal keeping is killing us. Ange Kelly tried out a new Freshmen Goalie tonight without improved results. Texas Soccer is now 2-7-1 on the season and 0-3 in the SEC.

Great break down of some of our super freshmen! We have experience at setter, libero and in our primary offensive weapon, partnered with freshmen playing at such a high level!

Love this question. I put together the scores in a spreadsheet. As you can see, Texas is not typically a strong fall program. Further, the scoring in the fall doesn't correlate well to the final score. Further, Further, the final score doesn't correlate well with Texas Final ranking. We scored 1370 in 2022 and came second yet we have won the cup with final scores of 1252 (covid weirdness year) and 1255.25. We are on track for 200+ this fall. That is plenty to keep us in contention, though the forced inclusion of a 0 in W soccer would likely impact our final score tally.

Just an insanely dominate performance over #21 Baylor. Big wins in every set. Cari Spears led the offense with 18 kills while hitting an insane 0.654! She added 3 blocks Torrey Stafford had a bit of an off night, 10 kills on 26 attacks for a 0.268 percentage. She did have 2 service aces and a block as well. Freshmen Taylor Harvey is coming along as well, she led the defense with 4 blocks while adding 7 kills on only 10 attacks! Conference play begins Wednesday against Vandy and Friday against Mizzou. Both at the Greg!

Over the last few weeks 2 things have become abundantly clear: 1. This women's volleyball team has what it takes to make a deep run in the post-season and claiming their 5th national championship is certainly a possibility 2. There is a good amount of interest on this board in the team. That said, I think it would be great to host all volleyball content on one thread throughout the season. @Sarah O and @GoHorns1 have been creating separate threads for each match, but let's just throw all of those on here. It'll also be a great spot for video highlights, social media posts and any other volleyball related news. If you haven't been paying attention to this team so far, now is the time! Hook em

Previous scholarhship limits were 12.6 for me and 18 for woman, and that combines Track & Field and CC. Like @HelloThere said, programs basically had to pick a couple of track disciplines and invest heavily there. For Texas it has been sprints, throwing and jumping events with little resource spent on distance events/CC. There is no longer a scholarship limit, just a roster limit. That number is 45. Texas having 45 scholarship athletes should be a good advantage over schools that won't fully fund all their spots and you can truly build a strong program in every discipline. I have always said the most valuable athletes in terms of the Director's Cup are distance runners. Someone who can be an All American in CC, indoor and outdoor track and field can have a positive scoring effect on 3 different sports!

So much to play out this year regarding the Cup. 1 bad required sport will hurt Texas but certainly not sink our chances. If Stanford puts up 0s again in W and M Bball and baseball, Texas still has a great shot. I haven't written it up yet but Cross Country also not looking super strong but you could make a good argument for every other team on campus to have very very high level success this year.

3rd in the conference in the regular season, did win the conference tournament but that carries less weight than the regular season. They were a much better squad last year. Lexi Missimo carried a lot of that weight. Mia Justus was a great goal keeper. Between those two you had a big boost on offense and defense that just isn't there this year.

High point of the game was being tied at halftime. This team is in big trouble.

A very dominant win from a team that is really hitting on all cylinders. Torrey Stafford continues to be a dominant force - recording 15 kills while hitting 0.542 while adding 3 aces and 13 digs. Cari Spears continues her strong freshman campaign with 10 kills, hitting 0.526 while adding 3 blocks. Ella Swindle with a strong performance setting with 35 assists, with the longhorns hitting 0.521 overall.

In non-conference play, the Texas Longhorns Volleyball team has wins against teams currently ranked: Creighton #18 (#12 at the time of the match) 3-0 Wisconsin #7 (#8 at the time) 3-0 Stanford #4 (#6 at the time) 3-2 Louisville #3 (#4 at the time) 3-2 Arizona State #8 (#9 at the time) 3-0 TCU #9 3-0 Next match is against #21 Baylor SEC Teams in the rankings #6 Kentucky, #14 Texas A&M, #15 Florida, #22 Missouri, #24 Tennessee, RV LSU. The SEC has a 15 game round robin format so Texas will play all 5 of these teams..