Big 12 Outdoor Track and Field Preview
June 21, 1999 | Outdoor Track
May 19, 1999
LUBBOCK, Texas - Big 12 Outdoor Preview
The Big 12 championships will be held on May 21-23 at the Hart/Patterson Track & Field Complex in Waco, Texas. Both the men's and women's track and field teams will compete at the meet.
Men's Preview
The mens team will be led by a trio of sprinters. Shameron Turner in the 200 meters and Desmond Johnson and Rohan McDonald in the 400 meterswill be some of the most likely candidates to score points for the Red Raiders. All three competed at the NCAA indoor championships earlier this past year. and have working hard toward the Big 12 meet. Turner has provisionally qualified for the NCAA outdoor championships in the 200 meters after running a 20.83 at the Texas Invitational. Also, Mike Franklin, a freshman from Fort Worth, is an emerging standout.
Others to watch will be men's distance runner Boniface Ndungu. The junior transfer holds the teams top times in the 1,500, 3,000, and 5,000 meters. Senior Rusty Purser is the teams leading thrower. His marks of 15.90 in the shot put and 5.064 in the discus are the best on the team.
Women's Preview
The women's team will be led by one of the nations premier distance runners Leigh Daniel. The indoor national champion in the 5,000 meters will be the favorite to win the 3,000 and 5,000 meter races. She will be joined by teammate Kristen Koppes in the 3,000 meters. The junior from Redding, Calif., has run some of the best times of her career this outdoor season.
The 100 meters will feature a pair of talented runners in Tami Zachery and Sherri Coleman. Zachery just missed a provisional qualifying time on May 13 when she ran an 11.60 at Abilene Christian. Coleman was top on the team in the event during the indoor season. The former junior college All-America has the potential to be among the leaders at the meet..
The 200 meters and 400 meters are led by sophomore Ngozi Iwu. She has provisionally qualified for the outdoor championships with a 53.62 at Abilene Christian. During the indoor season, she provisionally qualified in the 400 while taking fifth place at the Big 12 meet. She has steadily improved throughout the outdoor season and should be ready to peak at Waco.
The jumps are led by senior Kaneshia Polk. Polk. A provisional qualifier during the outdoor 1998 season, she has the teams longest triple jump (5.76) and triple jump (12.54).
The throws are led by Tracey Anderson. She leads the team in the shot put (12.62) and discus (48.08) and is having her finest season as a Red Raider.
Texas Tech at Big 12 Outdoor
Both the men's and women's teams will look to have their best performances ever as a team at the Big 12 championships. The best finish for the women came in 1998 when they finished tied for 10th with 38 points. On the mens side the best team mark was at the first Big 12 championships in 1997 when they scored 46.5 points and landed at 10th place
Women's Team Finishes 1997 12th 22 points 1998 t10th 38 pointsMen's Team Finishes 1997 10th 46.5 points 1998 11th 34 points
Men's Outdoor Individual Big 12 Champions 1997 Josephus Howard 200 meters
Women's Outdoor Individual Big 12 Champions 1997 Amber Affeldt 800 meters
Red Raider Women Ranked
Thanks to Leigh Daniel and her tremendous outdoor season, the Texas Tech womens track and field is ranked 11th in the week eight track wire team poll with a projected 20 points at the NCAA outdoor championships. It is the highest rating for team this season. The Red Raiders started off the outdoor season unrakend in the top 25
Overall the Big 12 conference has four teams ranked in the top 25 including Texas which is ranked No. 1 and Baylor which is 9th.
Daniel Dominating The Field
Distance runner Leigh Daniel has not lost a race in her five races this season. The junior has not been closely challenged with their being a wide margin of victory in almost every one of her races, in fact, in every race 3,000 meters or greater she has won by eight seconds or more.
Daniels Margin of Victory 10,000 3/27 19.22 seconds 3,000 3/20 14.52 seconds 5,000 4/22 8.64 seconds 3,000 5/7 8.52 seconds 1,500 4/17 3.07 seconds
Iwu and Turner Enjoy Breakout Seasons
Sophomores Ngozi Iwu and Shameron Turner have established themselves this year as two of the top runners for the womens and mens teams respectively. Both provisionally qualified during the indoor season and have done the same during the outdoor.
Iwu NCAA Qualifying Performances Indoor 400 meters Big 12 55.06 Outdoor 400 meters ACU 53.62Texas Tech All-Big 12 Acadmeic SelectionsTurner NCAA Qualifying Performances Indoor 200 meters Rocky Mtn. 20.98 Outdoor 200 meters Texas Invit. 20.83
While Texas Tech track and field has always been known for excellence in competition, the team is also getting it done in the classroom. Six men and five women were named to the all-Big 12 acadmeic first team . Furthermore, three more women and men were named honorable mention.
Texas Tech Big 12 Academic Selctions
Men's first team: Rusty Purser, Brandon May , Gary Bodony, Evan Figueroa, Chris Thomas; Honorable Mention: Brandon Pshigoda, Josephus Howard, Greg Martin
Women's first team: Tara Hangge, Aimee Roberson, Nicole Mitchell, Kristen Koppes, Kaneshia Polk, Tami Zachary; Honorable Mention: Jodi Jones, Courtney Nolen, Sherri Coleman
Red Raiders Redshirt
Some familiar faces at the Big 12 championships will not be running for Texas Tech this yeard due to the fact they have redshirted for the outdoor season.
Josephus "Pap" Howard will not run for the men. A former Big 12 champion indoor and outdoor champion in the 200 meters and Freshman of the Year, Howard last competed for Texas Tech as a member of the 4X400 relay team that advanced to the 1999 NCAA indoor championships. He is taking the outdoor season to focus on training and recovering from nagging injuries suffered duirng the indoor season.
Evette Turner will not run for the womens team. In 1998, Turner was a Big 12 champion in the mile and took ninth in the event at the NCAA indoor championships. During the past indoor season she was hampered with nagging injuries. She is taking the outdoor season to recover from these and beginning training to reach and improve upon here 1998 performance.
Record Setting Raiders
Continuing on the trend from the indoor season where five new school records were set. The Texas Tech women have once again made an impact on the record book. So far an impressive six records have been set in 1999.
New Texas Tech Records Set in 1999
Women's Outdoor Records Leigh Daniel 5,000 meters 16:02.42 4/22/99 Penn Relays 3,000 meters 9:17.68 5/7/99 Stanford Invit. 10,000 meters 32:53.95 3/27/99 Stanford Invite Ngozi Iwu 400 meters 53.62 5/13/99 Abilene Christian 200 meters 23.91 5/13/99 Abilene Christian 400 meters 53.62 Iwu, Coleman, Crampton, Zachery 3/20/00 Texas Opener 4X100 relay 45.90Getting the Results
Results from the 1999 Big 12 outdoor championships will be available by accesing the official Big 12 conference website at: www.big12sports.com The site will be updated at the conclusion of each days competiton.
NCAA Outdoor Championships
The NCAA outdoor national championships on June 2-5 in Boise, Idaho. So far, Texas Tech has one automatic qualifier in Leigh Daniel in the 3,000, 5,000 and 10,000 meter races Provisional qualifiers Ngozi Iwu, Shameron Turner will have to wait till the conclusion of this upcoming weekends meet to see if their times are good enough to qualify them for the competition.