I hope that some RRS readers get to attend this meet -- it will be a good one. Coming to Lubbock for this meet include the teams from USC, Kentucky, LSU, UT, the women's team from Arkansas, Houston, Oklahoma State, ACU, Texas Southern, plus JC powerhouses Western Texas, South Plains, and Barton County. It will be a one-day meet -- all of it today, Friday, January 21. Tomorrow will see the HS invitational meet -- a huge meet with over 1,000 HS athletes.
Below, I have posted many of the Tech athletes who will be competing. This is not all the Tech entries, but mostly the athletes you will want to watch if you are at the meet in person, with some of my notes mixed in.
Below, I have posted many of the Tech athletes who will be competing. This is not all the Tech entries, but mostly the athletes you will want to watch if you are at the meet in person, with some of my notes mixed in.
- 10 a.m. - things get started with the women's weight throw -- Tech has a big contingent -- All-American Seasons Usual, Field Gatlin, Kayli Johnson, newcomer Malin Smith, and Abigale Rhoads in her season debut. The men will get going afterwards -- it will be around 11:30 and will include All American Gabriel Oladipo (season-debut), Jacob Mechler (who looked good last week) and RS-freshman Konnor Wood.
- 10:15 - several "B" running events get started -- the 3,000, 400, followed by the 200's. Tech doesn't have many athletes in the "B" events, but Tech was not able to get the women's 400 runners into the "A" events later in the day, so both Lexye Price and Nayanna Dubarry-Gay will have to compete this morning. They should run around 11ish.
- 11:00 - women's vault starts with most of the usual Tech vault crew -- Chloe Wall, Ryleigh Redding, Sarah Tackitt, Allyn Tyer and new freshman Olivia Cade
- 11:50 - the 60 prelims get started -- the women only have Virginia Kerley and the men have Courtney Lindsey and Daniel Omah
- 12:15 - the 60 hurdles get underway - for the women, former JC national champ Demisha Roswell gets her season debut, plus Simone Watkins. The men will have All-American transfer Taylor Rooney, transfer Kyle Lind (who looked good last week) and Robert Teer, coming back from injuries that held him out for 2 long years.
- 1:00 -- long jump on 2 runways, with the women featuring All-American Monae Nichols (season debut), Virginia Kerley and freshman Brya Brewer. The men will feature All-American Jalen Seals, who jumped well last week in the triple jump.
- 1:05 - the 600 yard run gets started, on the women's side there are some scratches, so the only Tech woman running is Torrye Tyler, the freshman from Brock. The men are very strong: All-American Sven Cepus (the Big 12 champ in this event in 2021), All-American Marco Vilca (All-American in the indoor 800 last year) and the Tech debut of Moad Zahafi, from Morocco.
- 1:35 - the mile. Again, some Tech scratches, so Tech will only have freshman Melanie Jacobs in her Tech debut in the women's race and on the men's side, All-American Paul Sherrill, who ran very well on the distance medley relay at nationals in 2021, then has struggled with injuries during the outdoor 2021 season, and missed the entire 2021 XC season.
- 1:55 - the finals in all of the sprints -- hopefully will have several Red Raiders in the finals, but the fields are really, really strong!
- 2:25 - in the 400, Tech has no one in the women's race that made the "A" section, but Ryan Champlin will be running in the men's 400 and he looked great last week in the 600 yard run
- 2:40 - the 800 gets started. On the women's side, it is the 800 debut for newcomers - transfer Michaela Lewis (the SWAC champ from Alabama State) and freshman Fanny Arendt, from Luxembourg. I am really excited to see Michaela in this race -- she could have a huge immediate impact for Tech. For the men, both redshirt freshman Owen Likins (an All-American on the distance medley relay last year) and Alfred Chawonza are running in a strong field
- 3:00 - the men's vault starts up, with Kyle Stifflemire, Rory Maguire, and Logan Fraley (who all scored at the Big 12 conference meet last year) and freshman Colton Naffziger, who looked pretty good last week as well
- 3:00 -- the shot put gets started with All-American Kayli Johnson, transfer Malin Smith, Field Gatlin, Abigale Rhoads and redshirt freshman Baylee Thompson, from Jacksboro. I think we will see a big improvement from Baylee this week. The men will follow, probably around 4:45ish with Gabe Oladipo representing the Red Raiders.
- 3:15ish - the high jump takes the stage, with women Sidney Sapp (season debut), heptathletes Aria Tate (Tech debut) and Callie Jones, plus freshmen Mara Hering and Alexis Ivy, the Denver City product. The men will have Jack Scarbrough, Jequan Hogan, Caleb Wilborn and the big German freshman Luca Meinke.
- 3:30 the "A" section of the 200 gets going, with Kiah Dubarry-Gay (who looked great last week in the 60 and on a leg on the 4x4 relay) the only Red Raider running in a loaded "A" section for the women. The men have great firepower in the "A" 200 -- Courtney Lindsay, Terrence Jones (who was spectacular in the his Tech indoor indoor debut with a school record 60), Jacolby Shelton, Ashton O'Connor, and transfer Adam Clayton (who looked good last week in his Tech debut). Courtney and TJ are running in the fastest section - watch for some great times out of that section.
- 4:00 - the men's and women's triple jump gets started, with the only Red Raider competing being Monae Nichols -- the Red Raider men are concentrating on other events today (Jalen Seals in the LJ and Jequan Hogan in the HJ) and Chris Welch, who is not competing at all. Who you won't see is defending national champ Ruth Usuro and JC national champ transfer Onaara Obamuwagun. Ruth and "Oh-oh" are house mates, I certainly hope that there is not an illness in that household. AND, you may have read about the little mishap from last week's meet in the paper. Ruth Usoro had what appeared to be a new national record in the TJ, but later film reviews of the jump appear to fall short of a national record. It appears that when the distance was called out by the marker, the recorder wrote down the wrong number -- a number that just happened to be a national record. That jump was thrown out and Ruth still ranks #5 in the country with her 2nd best jump from last week. And, the Red Raiders still lead the nation because transfer Ruta Lasmane is #1 in the event. Ruta is also out this week -- hopefully just training through this week in preparation for a big meet next week.
- 4:10 - the "A" 3000's kick off. On the women's side, Sharon Chumo, runs. On the men's side, the are several Tech athletes running "unattached", which simply means they are redshirting. In particular, I am interested in seeing how Canyon product Samuel Ashley runs.
- 4:40 - the 4x4's get started with absolutely stunning strong fields, but Tech will not be in the middle of it. On the women's side, all five teams in the fast section were finalists in this event at the national meet - LSU, UT, UK, USC and Arkansas. The Tech women will run in the 2nd section against "B" relays. The men's section is almost as strong -- Tech will not run until the 3rd section against mainly B relays. I think there could be some rearranging done to accommodate Tech running against stronger competition.
