It is that time of the year for me to post the Red Raider T&F previews. Like I have done in the last several years, I will break up the previews into multiple parts -- trying to preview the entire team at one time is just too onerous for anyone to read. The order this year will be: 1) Sprints (100, 200, 400, relays), 2) throws (SP, DT, HT, WT, and JT) , 3) hurdles (100H/110H, and 400H), 4) Middle distance/long distance, (800, 1500, steeple, 5K, and 10K) and 5) jumps (HJ, LJ, TJ), vault, multis. I start with sprint and end with jumps, vault and multis because those are areas of particular strength for the Red Raiders.
The 2021 season was a disappointment for the Red Raider men, although the women did rather well. In 2019, the Tech men won the first ever men's national title for Tech at the D-1 outdoor nationals. Then, the 2020 season was completely wiped out by COVID, so the Red Raiders returned to the 2021 national meet as the defending champs.............and did not score a single point! The women performed much better at nationals, finishing in a tie for 11th at both the indoor and outdoor meet (thank you, Ruth Usoro). But, even that was a slight disappointment, as they appeared to have a team that could finish top-10 at both meets.
Coach Kittley and his staff responded to the disappointment by completely reshaping the team. Some of the athletes who had eligibility left (mostly due to COVID redshirt), but who had disappointed have transferred other places. There are over 40 new faces on the team in 2022 and there may well be some additional midterm additions. This should be a really good women's team (even with lots of losses in the sprints) and this could be a men's team that will rival the 2019 national championship team.
So, let's dive into a preview of the Red Raider SPRINT corps:
WOMEN - loads of losses, but some returnees with huge potential and some good additions and possibly, some strong midterm additions
Losses: Sara Limp - 3rd in the Big 12 outdoor 400, Sara scored 33.5 points over her career as a Red Raider; D'Jenne Egharevba - did not place at the Big 12 outdoor meet in 2021, but had previously scored 20 points in her career, 18 of that indoors; Peyton Ricks, a former walk-on who ended up scoring 13.75 points in a solid career at Tech; Amanda Crawford was good after a grad transfer scoring 8 points in 1 indoor/outdoor season; Daja Gordon was a huge signee for Tech 4 years ago, but injuries wrecked her career and she scored a total of 4.75 points at Tech -- she graduated last spring and will leave one redshirt season behind; Jadsia Warden, another walkon who ended up being a solid relay hand and scored 7.75 points in her career; and Kailei Collins -- big disappointment in her 2 years at Tech, she never scored a point and has transferred to Texas.
Returnees:
MEN - returning the core of the sprint crew that has HUGE potential, but were decimated by injuries in 2021. There are some newcomers that could help, but this is mostly about keeping some really, really good sprinters healthy.
LOSSES - Karayme Bartley ran well for Tech in 1 indoor and 1 outdoor season, making the finals in both the 200 and 400 at the outdoor conference meet in 2021 and scoring 10 points for Tech; Chancellor Stephenson was a solid hand for 5 years, scoring 16.25 points in his career; Derrius Rodgers, did not end up running in indoor or outdoor conference for Tech in 2021, but scored 14 points in his Tech career in previous years; Keion Sutton, scored 9.75 points at Tech after transferring from South Plains and ended up a relay All-American in the 4x1 relay after Derrius Rodgers was injured late in the 2019 season; and Josiah MacInnis, a walkon kid who scored 2.5 points on relays in his years at Tech.
RETURNEES - Tech could field a national contending 4x1 relay with only the returnees, if the Red Raiders can just stay healthy
The 2021 season was a disappointment for the Red Raider men, although the women did rather well. In 2019, the Tech men won the first ever men's national title for Tech at the D-1 outdoor nationals. Then, the 2020 season was completely wiped out by COVID, so the Red Raiders returned to the 2021 national meet as the defending champs.............and did not score a single point! The women performed much better at nationals, finishing in a tie for 11th at both the indoor and outdoor meet (thank you, Ruth Usoro). But, even that was a slight disappointment, as they appeared to have a team that could finish top-10 at both meets.
Coach Kittley and his staff responded to the disappointment by completely reshaping the team. Some of the athletes who had eligibility left (mostly due to COVID redshirt), but who had disappointed have transferred other places. There are over 40 new faces on the team in 2022 and there may well be some additional midterm additions. This should be a really good women's team (even with lots of losses in the sprints) and this could be a men's team that will rival the 2019 national championship team.
So, let's dive into a preview of the Red Raider SPRINT corps:
WOMEN - loads of losses, but some returnees with huge potential and some good additions and possibly, some strong midterm additions
Losses: Sara Limp - 3rd in the Big 12 outdoor 400, Sara scored 33.5 points over her career as a Red Raider; D'Jenne Egharevba - did not place at the Big 12 outdoor meet in 2021, but had previously scored 20 points in her career, 18 of that indoors; Peyton Ricks, a former walk-on who ended up scoring 13.75 points in a solid career at Tech; Amanda Crawford was good after a grad transfer scoring 8 points in 1 indoor/outdoor season; Daja Gordon was a huge signee for Tech 4 years ago, but injuries wrecked her career and she scored a total of 4.75 points at Tech -- she graduated last spring and will leave one redshirt season behind; Jadsia Warden, another walkon who ended up being a solid relay hand and scored 7.75 points in her career; and Kailei Collins -- big disappointment in her 2 years at Tech, she never scored a point and has transferred to Texas.
Returnees:
- Virginia Kerley -- Sr (Tr-TAMU) - finished 8th in the Big 12 100 outdoors and ran a terrific anchor leg on the 4x1 relay -- had transferred to Tech after a disappointing career for the Aggies and shows signs of being an elite sprinter/jumper
- Le Taija Jackson - So - did not score a point in 2021 indoors or outdoors, but she was the top freshman 60 finisher in 2020 (6th place). If she returns to her form from her true freshman season, she will have an impact
- Kiah Dubarry-Gay - So - just missed the finals in both the 100 and 200 outdoors and ran a strong leg on the 4x1 relay. It usually takes a year for an international runner (she is from England) to acclimate to running in the U.S. Remember that Divine Oduduru did not look like anything special in his freshman year at Tech, then he exploded
- Nayanna Dubarry-Gay - So - did not score a point for Tech in 2021, but just like her twin sister, she has had a year to acclimate and I will very surprised if you do not see her contribute big in 2022
- Knowledge Omovoh, a Nigerian grad transfer from South Carolina -- she was only 10th in the SEC ind 400 last year and did not run at all for them outdoors. Then, he went to the Nigerian Olympic Trials and got 2nd in the 400 and 4th in the 100 and her times were very good. Her PR's of 11.22 in the 100, 23.72 in the 200 and 52.31 in the 400 makes her capable of finishing in the top 3 at conference in any of the three events and be a solid addition to the 4x1 and 4x4.
- Aneesa Scott, a grad transfer from UNT (prepped at Rowlett HS) - at the CUSA indoors, she was 2nd in the 400 and 3rd in the 200. PR's of 23.64 in the 200 and 53.13 in the 400 are both very conference-competitive, plus she will be strong potential leg for the 4x4 relay.
- Madeline McElroy, from San Antonio Reagan - probably a walkon or small scholarship kid, but has some potential with a PR of 24.82
- Danielle Limp, from Los Alamitos, CA -- intriguing addition just because of her being the younger sister of Sara Limp. Danielle's PR in the 400 of 58.0 is unimpressive, but Sara only ran a 57 in HS and she ended up running a 51 at Tech. If Danielle has Sara's work ethic, she could be a nice addition.
MEN - returning the core of the sprint crew that has HUGE potential, but were decimated by injuries in 2021. There are some newcomers that could help, but this is mostly about keeping some really, really good sprinters healthy.
LOSSES - Karayme Bartley ran well for Tech in 1 indoor and 1 outdoor season, making the finals in both the 200 and 400 at the outdoor conference meet in 2021 and scoring 10 points for Tech; Chancellor Stephenson was a solid hand for 5 years, scoring 16.25 points in his career; Derrius Rodgers, did not end up running in indoor or outdoor conference for Tech in 2021, but scored 14 points in his Tech career in previous years; Keion Sutton, scored 9.75 points at Tech after transferring from South Plains and ended up a relay All-American in the 4x1 relay after Derrius Rodgers was injured late in the 2019 season; and Josiah MacInnis, a walkon kid who scored 2.5 points on relays in his years at Tech.
RETURNEES - Tech could field a national contending 4x1 relay with only the returnees, if the Red Raiders can just stay healthy
- Courtney Lindsay - Jr - won the Big 12 100 by an eyelash last spring, but did not make the national finals in that race -- also getting 4th in the 200 and running a strong 3rd leg on the 4x1 relay. A total of 16.5 points in that one meet. He did not get to compete in the indoor conference meet in 2021 due to injury. Keep him healthy and he can be national finalist.
- Jacolby Shelton - Jr - 2nd in the Big 12 100 to his teammate, Jacolby won the Big 12 indoor 60 - has scored 27 points for Tech already, but is capable of much, much more.
- Ashton O'Conner - So - was injured and not able to compete at all in the outdoor Big 12 meet last spring, after getting 9th in the indoor 200 earlier in the year. But, he looked fantastic as a true freshman in 2020 (11 points at conference) and could be a serious contender to go to nationals if he stays healthy.
- Terrence Jones, Jr - RS freshman indoors and a soph outdoors - came to Tech from The Bahamas and had a lot of trouble acclimating. He redshirted entirely indoors and trained most of the year as a 200/400 guy. Then, at the conference meet he ran a devastating anchor leg on the 4x1 relay (chasing down 2 runners who scored in the open 100). Suddenly, the light seemed to turn on for TJ and he qualified for nationals in the open 200, only to miss the meet due to a training injury. Will he train as a 100/200 guy , a 200/400 guy, OR as that rare 100/200/400 guy? Could he that missing puzzle piece for a primo 4x1 relay?
- Ryan Champlin - a good hand in the 400, he was injured for the entire 2021 outdoor season. Since he got a COVID redshirt year in 2021, I think he has both an indoor and outdoor season left.
- Daniel Omah - scored on the 4x1 relay in 2021. He can be a viable candidate for the 4x1 relay.
- Nylo Clark - Grad transfer Sr from Mizzou - did not place in the SEC indoors or outdoors in an individual race, but has some good PR's -- 10.35 in the 100, 20.81 in the 200, and 46.30 in the 400 -- and did run some 4x4 splits in the 45's last year
- Evan Siboni - an Israeli who is transferring from Loyola in Chicago as a junior - got 5th in the MVC 400 for the Ramblers, but then got to the Israeli Championships and got 3rd in both the 200 and 400 -- has solid PR's - 21.45 in the 200 and 46.80 in the 400 (both run in the Isreali Championships)
- Adam Clayton - a Scot who also transferring from Loyola in Chicago, also as a junior - 3rd in the MVC 200 -- has good solid PR's of 10.59 in the 100 and 20.92 in the 200
- Bradley Peralta - FR - runnerup in the 3A 400 for Kermit his time at state was a good HS time of 47.95 and he ended up ranked #57 in the U.S. in that race. I have seen him run in a person -- strong kid who is very raw. Good coaching could turn him into a stud.
