For the track and field neophytes on this board, if you are from Texas you have heard of the Texas Relays, whether you follow track closely or not. It is the premier track event in the American southwest, drawing crowds of around 25,000 on Saturday and around 3000 athletes - high school, college, and professional.
On the west coast, the equivalent meet used to be the Modesto Relays or the California Relays, but today, it is the Mt. SAC (short for Mount San Antonio College) Relays. Mt. SAC is a junior college in California, which just happens to house a terrific track complex. Over the past 2 decades, this meet has grown in stature and importance, particularly with distance runners. Like the Texas Relays, there are minimum standards to ever get to compete. Because so many distance runners have gotten their PR's on this track, it has been analyzed and re-analyzed - "it is a few yards short?", "does it have some kind of slope?", etc. But, the bottom line is, distance runners do run super-fast times there and because of that, there are incredible numbers of distance runners who enter. There will be distance races run at Mt. SAC until midnight on at least 2 nights. Two years ago, almost 90% of the national qualifying times in the steeplechase, 5K and 10K were run at Mt. SAC or at Stanford.
It is interesting to see which athletes were accepted entries from Texas Tech, it gives us a good indication who needs a good performance and also, who has the inside chances of running at conference, which is still over a month away. Simply being accepted doesn't mean they will run - there might be a slight injury or athletes might be entered in 2 events to see if they are accepted in both and then, choose to run only their preferred event, etc. So, here are the Tech accepted entries and I have included the number of accepted entries in parentheses, to illustrate the crazy number of distance runners at this meet.
WOMEN
100 (101) - Erica Alexander, Terra Evans, Candace Jackson, Tara Thomas - since Candace already owns the fastest 200 time in the Big 12, she will probably be gunning for a good time here in the 100
200 (99) - Terra Evans, Tiffany Hines, Candace Jackson, Tara Thomas - I certainly hope that Tiffany gets to run, I am eager to see some times from her outdoors
400 (82) - Taylor Evans, Meshawn Graham
800 (143) - Devin Bailey, Shannon Jackson, Caroline Jepleting, Kearci Jobe - with Purity Biwott's outdoor eligibility exhausted, the importance of Devin, Shannon and/or Kearci becomes even greater
1500 (223) - Caroline Jepleting
5K (223) and 10K (121) - Michelle Guzman - I suspect Michelle may only run 1 of these races and if so, it will most likely be the 10K
100 hurdles (91) - Katie Grimes, Kelsey Lloyd
Steeplechase (115) - Kaci Westervelt
4X100 (47) - Tara Thomas, Terra Evans, Candace Jackson, Erica Thomas - this week, the Tech coaches test the sprint relay with Tara Thomas on it, thus freeing Taylor Evans from running on both the 4X100 and 4X400
4X400 (41) - Taylor Evans, Erica Alexander, Meshawn Graham, Kelsey Lloyd - here the coaches test out Meshawn and Kelsey, freeing Terra Evans and Candace Jackson from running on both relays. I have always felt that it helps both relays to keep people from having to double up, but ONLY if there is not a precipitous drop in the times. This weekend, only Erica Alexander runs on both relays, unlike last week when all four women (Erica, Terra, Taylor and Candace) ran on both relays.
PV (56) - Jessie Gibbs, Shade Weygandt - this could be the weekend when Shade hits the 15-foot mark
NOTE: Hard to believe that Tech will not have entries here in the HJ, LJ or TJ and possibly won't have entries in these events at the conference meet. The good news is that Tech has already signed the #1 returning high jumper and the #1 returning long jumper in the nation and 2012 will be much different for Tech.
SP (40) - Kelly Closse, Ifeatu Okafor
DT (39) - Kelly, Ifeatu
NOTE: Ditto on the javelin, where it has been years since Tech had a top competitor, but help is on the way. Tech has signed the #1 high school javelin thrower in the nation who was #1 last year as a HS junior.
MEN
200 (89) - Markus Henderson - I surely want to see Markus running this weekend. He was also an accepted entry at the Texas Relays and was not on the final heat sheets
400 (83) - Zach Plinario, Gil Roberts, LaToy Williams - I am excited to see Gil run, he ran well this past weekend. It will be interesting to see if LaToy actually runs - he jogged thru a 48.5 relay split on the distance medley relay this past weekend and seemed to run favoring one leg.
1500 (222) - Zach Dawson, Silas Kemboi,Gilbert Limo, Robinson Simatei - surprised to see Gilbert entered in the 1500, but not the steeplechase, where he finished 5th at the national meet in 2010. He does seem to injure easily in the steeple, so maybe the coaches are waiting to run him in a highly competitive race. Simatei looked a little bit more competitive this past weekend running the 4X1500 relay in Austin. He still has a long ways to go to really help this team.
110 hurdles (71) - Shane Brathwaite, Omo Osaghae, Brandon Tucker - none of the hurdlers are doubling up in both hurdle races this week, in order to knock out their very best times in just one race
400 hurdles (61) - Bryce Brown, Jamele Mason, Zach Plinario - Bryce and Jamele finished 1-2 in the Texas Relays and can certainly duplicate that feat at Mt. SAC, since they beat the 2 best west coast 400 hurdlers in Austin. I am anxious to see Zach run this race, where he has placed at conference the past 2 years.
4X100 (33) - Omo Osaghae, Markus Henderson, Shane Brathwaite, Brandon Tucker - first time this relay has run this year (they used a time from last year to get into the meet). This group could be fast, if Markus is healthy.
4X400 (32) - Bryce Brown, Gil Roberts, Shane Brathwaite, Jamele Mason - the same group that ran a 3:05 last Saturday in Austin. I just don't know if LaToy can be depended upon to finish his leg, but with him the relay could possibly run a 3:02-3:03. As presently composed, they could still run a 3:04 or possibly even a 3:03.
HJ (41) - Nick Tam - Nick has been a pleasant surprise this season
PV (51) - Kyal Meyers, Boston Spiva - Kyal is on the way up, the highest ranked freshman in the country right now. It would be a good weekend for Boston to break out of his early-season funk.
LJ (59) and TJ (39) - Bryce had some great long jumps last week in Austin, unfortunately he scratched all three (that last one was 27-6 if it was an inch). He could still have a great year if he starts hitting the takeoff cleanly.
DT (38) - Julian Wruck - Julian leads the nation in the DT and it would be fun to see him throw over 200 feet again in California (he has the only 2 throws over 200 feet this year in the nation).
I hope to have time to review the actual heat sheets tomorrow (Thursday) to see who is actually going to the meet. There will be some people on the list above who will NOT be California.
On the west coast, the equivalent meet used to be the Modesto Relays or the California Relays, but today, it is the Mt. SAC (short for Mount San Antonio College) Relays. Mt. SAC is a junior college in California, which just happens to house a terrific track complex. Over the past 2 decades, this meet has grown in stature and importance, particularly with distance runners. Like the Texas Relays, there are minimum standards to ever get to compete. Because so many distance runners have gotten their PR's on this track, it has been analyzed and re-analyzed - "it is a few yards short?", "does it have some kind of slope?", etc. But, the bottom line is, distance runners do run super-fast times there and because of that, there are incredible numbers of distance runners who enter. There will be distance races run at Mt. SAC until midnight on at least 2 nights. Two years ago, almost 90% of the national qualifying times in the steeplechase, 5K and 10K were run at Mt. SAC or at Stanford.
It is interesting to see which athletes were accepted entries from Texas Tech, it gives us a good indication who needs a good performance and also, who has the inside chances of running at conference, which is still over a month away. Simply being accepted doesn't mean they will run - there might be a slight injury or athletes might be entered in 2 events to see if they are accepted in both and then, choose to run only their preferred event, etc. So, here are the Tech accepted entries and I have included the number of accepted entries in parentheses, to illustrate the crazy number of distance runners at this meet.
WOMEN
100 (101) - Erica Alexander, Terra Evans, Candace Jackson, Tara Thomas - since Candace already owns the fastest 200 time in the Big 12, she will probably be gunning for a good time here in the 100
200 (99) - Terra Evans, Tiffany Hines, Candace Jackson, Tara Thomas - I certainly hope that Tiffany gets to run, I am eager to see some times from her outdoors
400 (82) - Taylor Evans, Meshawn Graham
800 (143) - Devin Bailey, Shannon Jackson, Caroline Jepleting, Kearci Jobe - with Purity Biwott's outdoor eligibility exhausted, the importance of Devin, Shannon and/or Kearci becomes even greater
1500 (223) - Caroline Jepleting
5K (223) and 10K (121) - Michelle Guzman - I suspect Michelle may only run 1 of these races and if so, it will most likely be the 10K
100 hurdles (91) - Katie Grimes, Kelsey Lloyd
Steeplechase (115) - Kaci Westervelt
4X100 (47) - Tara Thomas, Terra Evans, Candace Jackson, Erica Thomas - this week, the Tech coaches test the sprint relay with Tara Thomas on it, thus freeing Taylor Evans from running on both the 4X100 and 4X400
4X400 (41) - Taylor Evans, Erica Alexander, Meshawn Graham, Kelsey Lloyd - here the coaches test out Meshawn and Kelsey, freeing Terra Evans and Candace Jackson from running on both relays. I have always felt that it helps both relays to keep people from having to double up, but ONLY if there is not a precipitous drop in the times. This weekend, only Erica Alexander runs on both relays, unlike last week when all four women (Erica, Terra, Taylor and Candace) ran on both relays.
PV (56) - Jessie Gibbs, Shade Weygandt - this could be the weekend when Shade hits the 15-foot mark
NOTE: Hard to believe that Tech will not have entries here in the HJ, LJ or TJ and possibly won't have entries in these events at the conference meet. The good news is that Tech has already signed the #1 returning high jumper and the #1 returning long jumper in the nation and 2012 will be much different for Tech.
SP (40) - Kelly Closse, Ifeatu Okafor
DT (39) - Kelly, Ifeatu
NOTE: Ditto on the javelin, where it has been years since Tech had a top competitor, but help is on the way. Tech has signed the #1 high school javelin thrower in the nation who was #1 last year as a HS junior.
MEN
200 (89) - Markus Henderson - I surely want to see Markus running this weekend. He was also an accepted entry at the Texas Relays and was not on the final heat sheets
400 (83) - Zach Plinario, Gil Roberts, LaToy Williams - I am excited to see Gil run, he ran well this past weekend. It will be interesting to see if LaToy actually runs - he jogged thru a 48.5 relay split on the distance medley relay this past weekend and seemed to run favoring one leg.
1500 (222) - Zach Dawson, Silas Kemboi,Gilbert Limo, Robinson Simatei - surprised to see Gilbert entered in the 1500, but not the steeplechase, where he finished 5th at the national meet in 2010. He does seem to injure easily in the steeple, so maybe the coaches are waiting to run him in a highly competitive race. Simatei looked a little bit more competitive this past weekend running the 4X1500 relay in Austin. He still has a long ways to go to really help this team.
110 hurdles (71) - Shane Brathwaite, Omo Osaghae, Brandon Tucker - none of the hurdlers are doubling up in both hurdle races this week, in order to knock out their very best times in just one race
400 hurdles (61) - Bryce Brown, Jamele Mason, Zach Plinario - Bryce and Jamele finished 1-2 in the Texas Relays and can certainly duplicate that feat at Mt. SAC, since they beat the 2 best west coast 400 hurdlers in Austin. I am anxious to see Zach run this race, where he has placed at conference the past 2 years.
4X100 (33) - Omo Osaghae, Markus Henderson, Shane Brathwaite, Brandon Tucker - first time this relay has run this year (they used a time from last year to get into the meet). This group could be fast, if Markus is healthy.
4X400 (32) - Bryce Brown, Gil Roberts, Shane Brathwaite, Jamele Mason - the same group that ran a 3:05 last Saturday in Austin. I just don't know if LaToy can be depended upon to finish his leg, but with him the relay could possibly run a 3:02-3:03. As presently composed, they could still run a 3:04 or possibly even a 3:03.
HJ (41) - Nick Tam - Nick has been a pleasant surprise this season
PV (51) - Kyal Meyers, Boston Spiva - Kyal is on the way up, the highest ranked freshman in the country right now. It would be a good weekend for Boston to break out of his early-season funk.
LJ (59) and TJ (39) - Bryce had some great long jumps last week in Austin, unfortunately he scratched all three (that last one was 27-6 if it was an inch). He could still have a great year if he starts hitting the takeoff cleanly.
DT (38) - Julian Wruck - Julian leads the nation in the DT and it would be fun to see him throw over 200 feet again in California (he has the only 2 throws over 200 feet this year in the nation).
I hope to have time to review the actual heat sheets tomorrow (Thursday) to see who is actually going to the meet. There will be some people on the list above who will NOT be California.
