As a busy summer looms, can Texas win another Big 12 championship in track and field?

Twenty-seven years ago, the Texas track and field program made the 100-mile trip to Waco for the Big 12's first-ever outdoor track and field championship meet. The trip was a successful one. The Longhorns won two team titles.

This week, Texas will once again head to Waco. But this excursion is for a farewell, not a hello.

Waco's Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium is the site of the 2024 Big 12 outdoor meet, which gets underway on Thursday. Texas, of course, is leaving for the Southeastern Conference in a few months.

Since its inception, the Big 12's track and field meets have often served as an awards show for Texas. The Texas women have won 14 outdoor championships, and UT is the three-time reigning champion. The Texas men have won 10 outdoor team titles. Combined, the men and women have won 23 team titles at the Big 12 indoor meet and that 23rd trophy was secured by the Longhorns women in February.

So is there anything that Texas track and field coach Edrick Floréal will miss about the Big 12?

"Yes. The trophies," he said on Wednesday.

Adding another Big 12 championship trophy?

Waco will be one of the last stops on Texas' farewell tour of the Big 12. Thus far, Texas has won 12 of the 24 titles awarded by the Big 12 during the 2023-24 school year for a regular season or postseason tournament. According to Texas, its record for Big 12 championships in an academic year is 13. After two track and field champions are crowned in Waco and someone wins the Big 12 softball tournament in Oklahoma City this weekend, the only trophies left will be the ones for rowing and baseball's regular season and tournament.

"Right now, I feel like I'm about two feet tall, I'm getting shorter. Every time (a Texas team) wins one, I'm like I got shorter," Floreal joked. He then added that UT athletic director Chris Del Cone had "made it pretty clear. He told me, you've gotta get that done because I think it might be the most we've ever won. I wish I would have been the guy that went first and got mine out of the way."

What to expect out of this year's meet

Are the Longhorns expected to fare well in the field and on the track this weekend? The Texas women are the highest-rated Big 12 team in this week's USTFCCCA national rankings. Texas Tech is the only conference contemporary the UT men trail in their USTFCCCA rankings.

In order for the Texas women to make it a four-peat, the Longhorns will need good times from its relay teams and All-American Ackelia Smith must fare well in her jumps. Kristine Blazevica becoming a four-time conference champion in the heptathlon wouldn't hurt. Neither would a good showing from sprinter Kevona Davis, who hasn't run all outdoor season.

On the men's side, Leo Neugebauer won't do the decathlon since he's already qualified for nationals but he could give the Longhorns points in several individual events. Jeremiah Nubbe is the Big 12's reigning champion in the hammer throw.

"They've just got to compete," Floréal said. "Maybe we were spoiled by the group last year. They just have not competed to the level that I believe they're capable, to the level of their talent either. If they compete at a high level and fight, I think we're gonna be just fine."

Wrapping up in Waco, eyeing the NCAAs

The Big 12 outdoor meet kicks off a busy stretch on the schedule for Texas. The NCAA West Preliminaries will take place in Arkansas from May 22-25, and the NCAA championship meet is heading back to Oregon in early June after being held in Austin last year.

Floréal estimated that a dozen Longhorns and Texas Exes who still trail train in Austin could make it to the Olympics this year. Those athletes will attempt to secure spots on their countries' teams throughout the summer — for example, the U.S. trials are June 21-30 — and the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics is set for July 26.

Floréal was asked on Wednesday if Texas takes it easy with its Olympic hopefuls during an Olympic year, and the coach responded that "anybody who has a chance to be an Olympian, you sort of handle them with rubber gloves. You just want to not over-compete them."

That's why Smith has only jumped once this spring. Floréal said Davis could have debuted earlier this season, but Texas didn't want to rush her back until she was as healthy as possible. Davis and Smith are both NCAA champions who hail from Jamaica.

"You're completely second-guessing every decision," Floréal said. "How much is too much? How little is too little? Just making sure you have enough juice in the tank when you get down to Paris and giving them a fair chance to make their team. They could have a great season, but if they don't make that team, it's kind of been all wasted."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas track and field programs attempt to win titles in Big 12 finale