DirectorsCupUpdates

Tennessee is ranked #17 and is the 4th highest ranked team in the conference currently. Texas will need to continue their sharp play to win this one. Can they extend their streak of winning sets?

https://x.com/texasvolleyball/status/1975946789220958594?s=46&t=V_ZqrdMFtjf8YfJkCcsw0g

Good News, Bad News Good News - Women's CC is now ranked 2nd in the region after beating Arkansas head to head and is expected to earn the 2nd AQ spot for the NCAA Championships. That would guarantee a top 31 finish and 43 points. Not a bad result for CC. Men's CC still expected to finish top 5 in the region which earns 28 points. Bad News - Women's Soccer ties up the game vs Florida late but gives up a late goal to drop another SEC match. They are in need of a couple good results to make the SEC tournament and keep their season alive.

Elliott has been amazing for Texas volleyball. Volleyball is the higher profile sport with more teams competing but Coach Reese with swimming had a really long run of dominance. Two of the best to do it at Texas over a long period of time. I’m not sure any coach in a big 3 sport has had that type of success, especially in the modern era. Wooden at UCLA was something else but I don’t think he could go on that run in today’s NCAAs.

23 consecutive sets won in a row! Got me curious, what’s the record?

Pretty encouraging results for the women who win the meet by knocking off Arkansas due to stronger depth. In CC, your top 5 runners are scored and while Arkansas' top 3 runners finished 1,4,5, their last two finishers were 38 and 72. The top runner for Texas was Elizabeth Pickett in 3rd, followed by Isabel Conde De Frankenberg in 9th, Melody Espinoza in 13th, Syndi Wilkins in 17th and Lily Fawcett in 20th. Teams scores were 52 for Texas and 103 for Arkansas. Will be interesting to see the updated USTFCCCA rankings on Tuesday. Texas women should move ahead of Arkansas. Tulane has been the number 1 team in the region and likely remains there.

The men have finished in what is essentially a head to head Texas vs Arkansas with a handful of other small division schools mixed in. Texas got smoked by Arkansas, their top 4 runners finishing 1,2,4,5. Texas top 4 runners 7,9,10,11. Biggest problem I see is that Texas runners got beat not only by Arkansas but also runners from Oral Roberts and Northwest Missouri.

https://texaslonghorns.com/news/2025/9/30/track-field-cross-country-cross-country-preview-chile-pepper-invitational We will know a lot more about the CC teams after this weekend. First meet with some legit D1 competition and the first meet where the Texas teams will be at full strength. There will be a few season debuts for returning athletes as well as some grad transfers.

Wrong thread. Hook em!

@Bobby Burton mentioned this on the livestream. Texas volleyball has won 20 sets in a row, starting the streak in sets 4 and 5 against #4 Louisville and going on to sweep the next 6 opponents. Those 6 opponents included #9 Arizona State, #9 TCU, #21 Baylor and #21 Missouri. They look to keep that streak alive this Sunday against Mississippi State at Starkville, 2 pm , SEC+.

Perhaps we have our answer about the soccer team after the big Vanderbilt victory as they turn around and drop the rivalry game 1-0 against a very beatable A&M team. Today is Ange Kelly's birthday by the way!

CDC was interviewed on the new show with Vince and Mack brown. He noted gymnastics would be the best fit if they were to expand. Would fit in with the sec and as you said, Texas talent pool.

I misspoke in the interview. Softball actually has the next most teams competing of the team sports. And it has become very popular to boot. football after that. those two would be my top picks if they decided to add required sports.

A big win for Texas Soccer over #13 Vanderbilt, winning on a penalty kick in the last 10 seconds of the game. Could this be a young team turning things around for a strong finish to the season? Or just a positive outlier on the season? Next game vs A&M on Thursday.

In 2018, required sports were added and included Baseball, M & W Basketball and Volleyball. Women's Soccer was added last year.

Thanks for sharing the link Sarah!

I've been curious to do a deep dive on this. How many schools are impacted by the required sports. It is very few. And I'd argue Football should be included as a required sport as well. Only 6 schools would be impacted by that change.

Missouri is one of the better teams in the SEC, behind Texas, Kentucky and A&M and on par with Florida and Tennessee. I am curious to see if Ella Swindle is back tonight.

I won't post every highlight on this thread but this play last night was amazing. A diving dig and a scramble to get the ball over the net, followed by another diving dig to set up the point winning kill. This team is talented and incredibly scrappy on defense. They won't allow teams to score any easy points on them.

This is a great point and a good time for this team to hopefully learn this lesson. Sports like Volleyball and Tennis are interesting because you can't build a lead that carries over to the next set. Up 2 sets to 0, well, that 3rd set starts off 0-0 once again and you've got to start from scratch building an advantage.

Great offensive games from Stafford, Vander Wal and Harvey. Cari spears had 9 kills but also 7 attack errors on 20 swings. Considering we were missing out setter, really strong performance to get the sweep.

SEC honors will come her way but she’s also going to be a name to watch for national honors.

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.