Track & Field Sets Sight on Big 12 Title
April 27, 2004 | Track and Field
April 27, 2004
LUBBOCK, Texas - The track and field teams is out to compete against not only the best in conference but the best in the nation as they head to Norman, Okla., for the Big 12 Championships held Thursday through Saturday. It will be quite a competitive field with five women and six men's teams ranked in the top 25 including No. 23 Texas Tech.
Several Red Raiders will look to defend their title while others look to improve on the 2003 finishes. Senior Jason Young who finished third in the discus and second in the hammer at last years conference championship heads into the meet ranked eighth in the discus.
Jonathan Johnson, second in the Dandy Dozen, will look to three-peat in the 800m. In 2003, Johnson became the first male track & field athlete to repeat as champion at the Big 12 meet with a time of 1:48.13. Johnson is also a member of the No. 9 4x400 relay team who were runner-ups last year.
Other Red Raiders looking to defend a championship crown are Chad Pharis who turned in a height of 7'-2.5" in the high jump to give Tech its first Big 12 title in a field event. Bobby Most, currently ranked seventh in the pole vault, cleared a height of 18'-0.5" in 2003 to give Tech its second title in a field event.
Tech men finished fourth last season with 90 points while the women finished 10th with 32.5 points. The 90 points scored by the men's team is the most a Red Raider track team has ever scored, while the fourth-place finish equals the best finish by a men's team at a conference championship since 1960 team finished fourth in the Southwest Conference. The team had 23 athletes take home all-conference honors, 13 men and 10 women.
The meet is scheduled to begin on Thurs. with the decathlon and heptathlon and will conclude with the running of the 4x400 on Sat. Complete coverage of the meet can be found at www.soonersports.com on the track and field site.