I very rarely miss TTU home track meets, but I had to miss the one this past weekend. So, I have been poring over the results of this past weekend to ferret out the good stuff. The bad stuff is easy to identify - namely, the track meet encountered typical Lubbock weather for April - windy and cool early in the meet and the end of meet delayed for 1.5 hours by a rain/lightning storm. Not only did that effect the distance events that were packed into the end of the meet (in fact, the women's 5K runners were pulled off the track DURING the race) and they decided not to re-run it.
None of the schools wanted wait indefinitely during the delay, so the 4x400 relays were cancelled altogether and most schools left a van or car to bring along their distance runners who stuck it out to run the men's 5K, the men's 2000 meter steeplechase, the women's 3000 meter steeplechase, followed by the men's and women's 10K. The distance times were uniformly well off their norm, but they wanted to get SOMETHING out of the meet.
Still with all the vagaries of the weather on the Llano Estacado, there were some terrific performances, even 1 school record, so I will get to it"
Said school record came from the ol' man of Tech track, Kole Weldon - breaking his own school record in the hammer throw with a toss of 201-3 - the first time any Red Raider has thrown over 200 feet. He is currently ranked #1 in the Big 12 in the event. Truthfully, I think he possibly outdid himself on Saturday, when he chunked the discus 194-11, a big season best and 8 feet short of his school. That toss moved Kole to #1 in the Big 12 and #7 in D-I.Cierra White is the grand dame of Tech women's track and she is having a fantastic senior year as well - she runs a 22.94 in the 200 (with the wind laying down enough to be legal), which moves her to #2 in the Big 12 and #5 nationally. That time of 11.35 in the 100 at the Texas Relays still leaves her at #1 in the Big 12 and #3 in D-I.Montenae Roye Speight had a great meet - her 53,00 in the 400 was just .33 off her PR and moves her to #1 in the Big 12 and #10 in the nation. Plus she ran a strong time fo 23.68 in the 200, but the wind reading doesn't allow the time to be used for consideration for the national meets. Bradley Adkins jumped well, clearing 7-3.75. I know that is short of his new school record indoors of 7-6.5 (which he shares with Jacorian Duffield), but that jump was actually Bradley's new outdoor PR and it moves him to #2 in the Big 12 (behind Jacorian) and #3 in the nation. The HJ was solid for Tech - Dayton Fisher tied his outdoor PR of 6-11 (ranked #7 in the Big 12 and #25 in D-I) and freshman Trey Culver continues to look solid with his jump of 6-11 (his jump of 7-0.25 at the Texas Relays is #5 in the Big 12 and #19 in the nation)I love how the 400 is shaping up for the Tech men. Joseph Richards won the race, just off his PR time (he ran a 46.13) and is now ranked #1 in the Big 12 and #3 in the nation. Freshman Steven Champlin runs a terrific time of 46.93 and is ranked 3rd in the Big 12; sophomore Kyle Collins finishes an eyelash behind him with a PR time of 46.94 and is ranked #4 in the Big 12; and midterm additional Kareem McBride runs a 47.05 and is ranked 5th. So, right this moment Tech has 4 of the top 400 times in the conference. That says "All-American" 4x4 relay to me!Hannah Carson has her 2nd best javelin throw of the nation (177-4) - she has beaten her old school record in all three meets this year and is ranked #2 in the U.S. She also had her best discus throw and shot put of the season - discus of 162-9 to rank #8 in the Big 12 and 46-6 in the SP to rank #6 in the Big 12. In the triple jump, sophomore Viershanie Latham jumped a huge PR of 41-11.25 and moves up to the #9 spot in the nation. Gionna Jackson fouled all three of her jumps, but her 41-5 at the Texas Relays still ranked her #18. Chris Caldwell is the real deal. He won the 110H in a 13.63, but his 13.56 from the Texas Relays is still ranked #1 in the U.S. He also ran a really solid 10.46 in the 100 and ranks 4th in the Big 12. He may actually try to run both sprints at the conference meet, along with being a key member of the sprint relay. Tramaine Maloney also had his fastest time of the year in the 110H -- a 13.98, only .11 off her PR - to rank him #3 in the Big 12. Darien Tennon, who has added the high hurdles to his repertoire this year, ran a solid time fo 14.23 in his first time to run the event since HS, moving him to #6 in the 110H. Darien also ran a PR in the 400H - a 52.33 - to move into the #6 spot in the Big 12 in that event. LeTristan Pledger ran a solid 13.16 in winning the 100H and is still ranked #4 in the nation based upon her time at the Texas Relays. LT also ran the 100 for the first time at Tech and ran a very respectable 11.71, which is ranked #5 in the Big 12A few small triumphs on the women's side: Natalie Baker PR's in the javelin with a 142-8, moving into the #7 spot in the Big 12; Alexis Lewis improves each meet in the hammer throw, an event that she only picked up when she came to Tech - she was a HS high jumper - her throw of 169-4 is ranked #9 in the Big 12; Haley Cook PR's in the PV - 13-0.75 - to move into #6 spot in the Big 12; heptathlete Kami Norton ran the 400H (she was state champ in the 300H in HS) and ran a very solid 1:01.68 to move into the #7 spot in the Big 12, plus PR'ing in the 100H with a 14.22; J'Cee Pool had her best discus throw of the year with a 160-0, moving up to #10 in the Big 12; heptathlete Natalie Thompson ran a PR in the 100H (14.35); vaulters Reece Timmons (12-10.75) and Blake Wood (12-0.75) were both close to their PR's; freshman vaulter Megan Wood picked up a new PR of 12-0.75 - so along with Tayler Jameson, Tech has 5 of the top 12 vaulters in the Big 12. Small triumps on the men's side: Lubbock HS product Erin Lopez finally got off a decent triple jump (45-3) and moves into the #8 spot in the Big 12; decathlete Tyler Nelson ran pretty decent 400 - 49.63; JW Smith wins the 400H and his time from the Texas Relays is still ranked #3 in the Big 12 and #11 in the nation; Kyle Thompson vaults 16-10.75 - only 4 inches off his PR and #3 in the Big 12; pretty decent time from Evans Tuitoek in the 1500 (3:51.62) go move into 10th in the Big 12.
I confirmed something I had been thinking for a while, that Shanice Stewart is redshirting outdoors this year. When she transferred to Tech from a JC in California, she had 3 indoor seasons and 2 outdoor seasons, because her JC did not compete indoors. So, she has used up 2 indoor seasons and 1 outdoor. If she used up outdoors this year, she would have 1 indoor. By doing this, Shanice will have a full indoor/outdoor season left in 2016. Tech will take a slight hit this year, but should help the 2016 team be very good.
Now, Tech turns its attention to the meet at ACU. It will be a small exclusive meet - Texas Tech, TCU, ACU, South Plains and Western Texas - to inaugurate the new ACU track. In the sprints and many field events, the fields will be very strong. TCU is loaded in the sprints and some jumps - very weak in distances and most other field events. ACU is on the upswing again - after the previous coach did a poor job of recruiting - strong in women's distances, weak in men's distances, good in the throws and middle distances. South Plains is loaded in everything - no D-I school ever wants to go head to head with the Texans. Western Texas is one of the up-and-coming JC programs in the country, with great sprinters and basically nothing else. The meet should actually be a good meet for good marks - low-key, but solid competition across the board. We will see.
None of the schools wanted wait indefinitely during the delay, so the 4x400 relays were cancelled altogether and most schools left a van or car to bring along their distance runners who stuck it out to run the men's 5K, the men's 2000 meter steeplechase, the women's 3000 meter steeplechase, followed by the men's and women's 10K. The distance times were uniformly well off their norm, but they wanted to get SOMETHING out of the meet.
Still with all the vagaries of the weather on the Llano Estacado, there were some terrific performances, even 1 school record, so I will get to it"
Said school record came from the ol' man of Tech track, Kole Weldon - breaking his own school record in the hammer throw with a toss of 201-3 - the first time any Red Raider has thrown over 200 feet. He is currently ranked #1 in the Big 12 in the event. Truthfully, I think he possibly outdid himself on Saturday, when he chunked the discus 194-11, a big season best and 8 feet short of his school. That toss moved Kole to #1 in the Big 12 and #7 in D-I.Cierra White is the grand dame of Tech women's track and she is having a fantastic senior year as well - she runs a 22.94 in the 200 (with the wind laying down enough to be legal), which moves her to #2 in the Big 12 and #5 nationally. That time of 11.35 in the 100 at the Texas Relays still leaves her at #1 in the Big 12 and #3 in D-I.Montenae Roye Speight had a great meet - her 53,00 in the 400 was just .33 off her PR and moves her to #1 in the Big 12 and #10 in the nation. Plus she ran a strong time fo 23.68 in the 200, but the wind reading doesn't allow the time to be used for consideration for the national meets. Bradley Adkins jumped well, clearing 7-3.75. I know that is short of his new school record indoors of 7-6.5 (which he shares with Jacorian Duffield), but that jump was actually Bradley's new outdoor PR and it moves him to #2 in the Big 12 (behind Jacorian) and #3 in the nation. The HJ was solid for Tech - Dayton Fisher tied his outdoor PR of 6-11 (ranked #7 in the Big 12 and #25 in D-I) and freshman Trey Culver continues to look solid with his jump of 6-11 (his jump of 7-0.25 at the Texas Relays is #5 in the Big 12 and #19 in the nation)I love how the 400 is shaping up for the Tech men. Joseph Richards won the race, just off his PR time (he ran a 46.13) and is now ranked #1 in the Big 12 and #3 in the nation. Freshman Steven Champlin runs a terrific time of 46.93 and is ranked 3rd in the Big 12; sophomore Kyle Collins finishes an eyelash behind him with a PR time of 46.94 and is ranked #4 in the Big 12; and midterm additional Kareem McBride runs a 47.05 and is ranked 5th. So, right this moment Tech has 4 of the top 400 times in the conference. That says "All-American" 4x4 relay to me!Hannah Carson has her 2nd best javelin throw of the nation (177-4) - she has beaten her old school record in all three meets this year and is ranked #2 in the U.S. She also had her best discus throw and shot put of the season - discus of 162-9 to rank #8 in the Big 12 and 46-6 in the SP to rank #6 in the Big 12. In the triple jump, sophomore Viershanie Latham jumped a huge PR of 41-11.25 and moves up to the #9 spot in the nation. Gionna Jackson fouled all three of her jumps, but her 41-5 at the Texas Relays still ranked her #18. Chris Caldwell is the real deal. He won the 110H in a 13.63, but his 13.56 from the Texas Relays is still ranked #1 in the U.S. He also ran a really solid 10.46 in the 100 and ranks 4th in the Big 12. He may actually try to run both sprints at the conference meet, along with being a key member of the sprint relay. Tramaine Maloney also had his fastest time of the year in the 110H -- a 13.98, only .11 off her PR - to rank him #3 in the Big 12. Darien Tennon, who has added the high hurdles to his repertoire this year, ran a solid time fo 14.23 in his first time to run the event since HS, moving him to #6 in the 110H. Darien also ran a PR in the 400H - a 52.33 - to move into the #6 spot in the Big 12 in that event. LeTristan Pledger ran a solid 13.16 in winning the 100H and is still ranked #4 in the nation based upon her time at the Texas Relays. LT also ran the 100 for the first time at Tech and ran a very respectable 11.71, which is ranked #5 in the Big 12A few small triumphs on the women's side: Natalie Baker PR's in the javelin with a 142-8, moving into the #7 spot in the Big 12; Alexis Lewis improves each meet in the hammer throw, an event that she only picked up when she came to Tech - she was a HS high jumper - her throw of 169-4 is ranked #9 in the Big 12; Haley Cook PR's in the PV - 13-0.75 - to move into #6 spot in the Big 12; heptathlete Kami Norton ran the 400H (she was state champ in the 300H in HS) and ran a very solid 1:01.68 to move into the #7 spot in the Big 12, plus PR'ing in the 100H with a 14.22; J'Cee Pool had her best discus throw of the year with a 160-0, moving up to #10 in the Big 12; heptathlete Natalie Thompson ran a PR in the 100H (14.35); vaulters Reece Timmons (12-10.75) and Blake Wood (12-0.75) were both close to their PR's; freshman vaulter Megan Wood picked up a new PR of 12-0.75 - so along with Tayler Jameson, Tech has 5 of the top 12 vaulters in the Big 12. Small triumps on the men's side: Lubbock HS product Erin Lopez finally got off a decent triple jump (45-3) and moves into the #8 spot in the Big 12; decathlete Tyler Nelson ran pretty decent 400 - 49.63; JW Smith wins the 400H and his time from the Texas Relays is still ranked #3 in the Big 12 and #11 in the nation; Kyle Thompson vaults 16-10.75 - only 4 inches off his PR and #3 in the Big 12; pretty decent time from Evans Tuitoek in the 1500 (3:51.62) go move into 10th in the Big 12.
I confirmed something I had been thinking for a while, that Shanice Stewart is redshirting outdoors this year. When she transferred to Tech from a JC in California, she had 3 indoor seasons and 2 outdoor seasons, because her JC did not compete indoors. So, she has used up 2 indoor seasons and 1 outdoor. If she used up outdoors this year, she would have 1 indoor. By doing this, Shanice will have a full indoor/outdoor season left in 2016. Tech will take a slight hit this year, but should help the 2016 team be very good.
Now, Tech turns its attention to the meet at ACU. It will be a small exclusive meet - Texas Tech, TCU, ACU, South Plains and Western Texas - to inaugurate the new ACU track. In the sprints and many field events, the fields will be very strong. TCU is loaded in the sprints and some jumps - very weak in distances and most other field events. ACU is on the upswing again - after the previous coach did a poor job of recruiting - strong in women's distances, weak in men's distances, good in the throws and middle distances. South Plains is loaded in everything - no D-I school ever wants to go head to head with the Texans. Western Texas is one of the up-and-coming JC programs in the country, with great sprinters and basically nothing else. The meet should actually be a good meet for good marks - low-key, but solid competition across the board. We will see.
