The final NCAA championship of the year that has Tech participants starts TONIGHT. The Tech men have been ranked top-15 all year and have been top-10 much of the year. The women have been top 20 virtually all year and have even slipped into the top-10 in a few weekly polls this year. There is certainly a chance that both can make top-10.
This year has a new format that is kinda weird. The women's heptathlon and men's decathlon both started today (and Tech would have had someone in the hep, but Shanice Stewart is redshirting and Natalie Thompson just missed making the field), but for all of the other events, the genders will alternate each day - Wednesday and Friday will be men's events only - both track and field - and Thursday and Saturday will be only women's events. Kinda weird.
Remember, there will be 24 entrants in each event - 12 from each region.
WEDNESDAY
This year has a new format that is kinda weird. The women's heptathlon and men's decathlon both started today (and Tech would have had someone in the hep, but Shanice Stewart is redshirting and Natalie Thompson just missed making the field), but for all of the other events, the genders will alternate each day - Wednesday and Friday will be men's events only - both track and field - and Thursday and Saturday will be only women's events. Kinda weird.
Remember, there will be 24 entrants in each event - 12 from each region.
WEDNESDAY
- The only running event in the whole meet that has a Tech male entrant will be tonight - the men's 4x400. Tech has the 6th fastest time of the year - a 3:03 plus at Texas Relays. The men looked good in running the 6th fastest time in both prelims combined in Austin 2 weeks ago - a 3:04.15. This relay has a junior (Joseph Richards), a sophomore (Kyle Collins) and 2 freshmen (Charles Jones and Steven Champlin). I think they can make the finals and that would be a great experience for this young bunch.
- Kyle Thompson (SR) in the pole vault - was only ranked #27 in the nation coming into the prelim meet, but the West Prelim saw at least 3 18 footer vaulters no-height. Kyle will have to hit a PR of 18 or higher, but he could slip in for points.
- Jerome Wilson (SR) in the long jump - only ranked #62 in the nation coming into the prelim meet, Jerome got off a 25-6 LJ at the prelim meet and comes in with the 17th best jump from the prelims. He is a long-shot to pick up points, but he is very streaky and hopefully will be on a hot streak. I suspect it will take at least a 26 foot jump to have a chance at points.
- Busy day for Cierra White (SR), who will run the 100 and 200. On the national list prior to the prelim meet, Cierra was ranked #6 in the 100 and #7 in the 200. She ran just enough to qualify for the next round - the 10th best prelim time in the 100 and only the 15th best time in the 200. But, she was obviously running very controlled at the prelim meet. I really do think she will make the finals in both sprint.
- Busy day as well for LeTristan Pledger (JR), who will run the 100 hurdles and long jump. LT came into the prelim meet ranked #8 in the nation in the hurdles, but only ran the 22nd fastest time among all the national qualifiers. However, the kid from Baylor who is LT's nemesis got hurt at Austin and will not be running. LT still has a really good chance to make the finals. In the long jump, she was only ranked #36 in D-I coming into the prelim meet, but she jumped the 10th best long jump among all the national qualifiers.
- Hannah Carson (JR) comes in as a real favorite to win the whole shooting match in the javelin. She came into the prelim meet ranked #3 in the nation and threw a new school record of 185-10. That put her as the 2nd best thrower in the prelims (the east prelim winner had a throw 2 inches better). Hannah is very focused on winning this thing and she just might do it.
- Tech making the top 10 teams will rely heavily on the high jumpers. Jacorian Duffield (SR) comes in ranked #1 in the nation with that gargatuan 7-7 leap of his. Bradley Adkins (JR) is right behind him - ranked #4 in the U.S. with a jump of 7-4.5. A 1-2 finish from those 2, like at the national indoor meet, would be huge. Freshman Trey Culver came into the prelim meet ranked #37 in the U.S., but jumped a PR of 7-2.5 to make it to the national meet. I don't see Trey scoring this year, but he should really benefit from the experience and could well be the top freshman in the HJ.
- Kole Weldon (SR) finishes his sterling career at Tech with the discus at this meet. He came into the regional meet ranked #1 among all throwers in the western prelim, but that only put him #14 in the U.S.! He threw very well at the west region and had the best throw in the west and the 6th best throw overall. He is thoroughly convinced he will throw over 200 feet at nationals and that could put him into the top-8 and could even get him into the top 3.
- The 4x400 finals will be Friday - hopefully Tech has this relay in the finals AND they are vying to put Tech into the top 10 or even top-5. It would be great for the maturation of this group of youngsters to have that kind of pressure sitting squarely upon them.
- Finals for the women's 100, 200 and 100H and hopefully, Tech has Cierra and LeTristan in those races. Can't score if you don't make the finals!
- Paetyn Revell (SO) came into the prelim meet with the #5 triple jump in D-I, but she is still learning how to be consistent at the college level. She jumped so-so at Austin in the prelim, BUT it was good enough to make nationals. If she gets off a 44 foot jump, she can certainly score and possibly score big.
