Media Credit: Chris Soliz Two Texas runners round the first turn on the track at Mike A. Meyers Stadium on June 4 during the 2007 Texas Relays.

The Longhorns are used to performing on the biggest of stages, but this weekend's meet provides a little something extra.

The men's track team travels to the site of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field championships for the Razorback Invitational this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark.

This all but assures the Longhorns they'll face the best competition in the country - something that is on coach Bubba Thornton's mind.

"We will run better this week [at the Razorback Invitational]," Thornton said. "Just because of where we are and who we are running against we will compete better."

The Razorback Invite features a strong field for the Longhorns, who won the first two meets to begin the season, and is the precursor to the NCAAs - which Arkansas also hosts on March 14 to 15.

No. 5 LSU, No. 9 Arkansas and No. 17 Oklahoma are just a few of the quality teams Texas will see during the event.

"The competition we will face this meet, will be the top schools in the nation," Thornton said. "This will be a really good evaluation of where we are going to be down the road in the season. So we are excited to see where we are.

"The performances are going to be better [at this meet]."

Not that Thornton demands bigger performances in bigger venues. That's just how it usually happens.

"I don't ask people to turn it up for big meets," he said. "You just can't turn it up."

But while Thornton won't ask his team for more at the Razorback Invitational, he does ask for consistency from his team.

"A lot of time people will have unrealistic performances in mind, and when they don't reach that performance, they feel like they failed," Thornton said. "We are looking for consistent performance, and if we can keep do that we will do well no matter where we are running. I don't believe in hitting the high fast ball for a home run every time. It just doesn't happen. If we can consistently perform week in and week out, we will be where we need to be in big meets."

And this weekend is a big meet. The teams the Longhorns will be running against this week are the same teams they will see at both the conference and national championship meets.

Which is why Thornton has a close eye on this meet.

"Take that consistent basis you've built up every week, and add the adrenaline of a championship setting, and you perform well," Thornton said. "If we can do that we will do fine."

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