The Corky Classic is traditionally the first home meet of the indoor track season - or has been for the past 5 years, since Corky Oglesby passed away. In many years, the Tech coaches may hold out many of the top athletes to wait on an early meet. THIS year, Coach Kittley are eager to see who is ready to contribute -- I estimate that 70% of the roster are competing this weekend and that includes many of the Tech superstars. That will be cool, because I will be there in person and get to see some of the newbies who I find particularly intriguing.
The field for this meet is a mixed bag. D1 schools attending are ACU (partial squad), Arizona, Baylor, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Tarleton, and Texas State. D2 schools include Angelo, ENMU, LCU, UT-Tyler and West Texas A&M (which competes at a D1 level in T&F); NAIA member Wayland Baptist and Science and Arts of OK; and JUCO's Fort Scott, Garden City, New Mexico JC, Northwest Kansas, South Plains and Western Texas. In almost every event there will be a few All-Americans or A-A equivalents from JUCO's or D2 schools, but there will not be the depth of talent you will see at the SPC during the next 2 weeks.
The first day (Friday, January 14) is not chockful of Tech athletes, but there are still 6 All-Americans and several other All-conference kids, so it might be worth it to the casual fan to show up. The casual fan will definitely want to consider coming to the Sports Performance Center on Saturday -- the meet has lots of superstars that day.
For those coming to the SPC on Friday, here is a quick rundown of Red Raiders to watch:
The field for this meet is a mixed bag. D1 schools attending are ACU (partial squad), Arizona, Baylor, New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Tarleton, and Texas State. D2 schools include Angelo, ENMU, LCU, UT-Tyler and West Texas A&M (which competes at a D1 level in T&F); NAIA member Wayland Baptist and Science and Arts of OK; and JUCO's Fort Scott, Garden City, New Mexico JC, Northwest Kansas, South Plains and Western Texas. In almost every event there will be a few All-Americans or A-A equivalents from JUCO's or D2 schools, but there will not be the depth of talent you will see at the SPC during the next 2 weeks.
The first day (Friday, January 14) is not chockful of Tech athletes, but there are still 6 All-Americans and several other All-conference kids, so it might be worth it to the casual fan to show up. The casual fan will definitely want to consider coming to the Sports Performance Center on Saturday -- the meet has lots of superstars that day.
For those coming to the SPC on Friday, here is a quick rundown of Red Raiders to watch:
- The meet starts at 3:30 with the Women's weight throw -- which is frankly pretty hard to see from the stands. in past years, they have allowed some people done close to the action - I don't know what the plan looks like for this year. Both of the throw events are being divided into 2 sections, with the A group starting off the meet. The women's weight throw will have 4 throwers from Tech -- All-American Seasons Usual, Kayli Johnson, Field Gatlin and Louisville transfer Malin Smith. Texas State has an All-American who beat Seasons at the national meet last year, so this will be a good early test of our throwers.
- After the women, the men will throw in 2 sections as well, with Tech's three throwers all in the better section. Tech will have All-American Gabriel Oladipo, Jacob Mechler, and RS-Fr Konner Wood, from Holliday. Gabe will be trying to improve enough to make top 5 at nationals; Jacob will be coming off of an injury that wrecked his outdoor season: and Konner will be seeing if he is ready for college throws after a redshirt year to be get bigger and stronger.
- At 5 p.m., the running gets underway on the oval and the first race will a good one. In the women's 600 yard run, Tech has 4 runners. There 6 sections and Tech will have 2 runners in the fast section - Alabama State transfer Michaela Lewis and All-conference 400 hurdler Lexye Price. They will go head-to-head with Shannon Meisberger, the D1 national runnerup in the 400 hurdles and Morgan Stewart from Baylor, who finished a tenth ahead of Lexye in this same race at the Big 12 last year. Good test for both. Luxembourg freshman Fanny Arendt will run in the 2 section. And, Brock HS frehman, Torrye Tyler, the 3A state champ in the 800, will run in the 4th section.
- Then, there is a long dry spell for Tech runners as the B sections of the 400 follow, then the women's section of the 1000 run, with no Tech entries in any of them.
- Finally, at 6:45 the men;s 1000 runs in 3 sections, with the Tech runners running in the fast section. All-Americans Owen Likins and Marco Vilca (both A-A on the distance medley relay in doors) will be juined by Alfred Chawonza in that section. The South Plains kid is good -- 4th in the JUCO 1000 last year, Fort Scott runner was 9th in the JUCO 1000, and ACU has 2 all-conference kids in the race. It will be competitive and should draw out some good times.
