Tech Makes First Trips of 2007 Season

January 25, 2007 | Track and Field

Jan. 25, 2007

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LUBBOCK, Texas - The Red Raider track and field teams will be hitting the road to Seattle and Albuquerque this week. Events in New Mexico will begin on Friday at 6 p.m. with the women's pole vault, men's long jump and women's weight throw, as well as the women's 60M hurdles. Tech's distance runners will make their way to Washington with a Saturday start. The first event at the Husky Invite that a Red Raider is scheduled to run in is set for 10:45 a.m. (PST) on Saturday.

This second week of competition comes after Texas Tech did not let weather hamper their start for a second time. In the first competition of the indoor season, the Tech Tech Invitational, four Red Raiders hit NCAA automatic or provisional marks. Sophomore Sally Kipyego, running in her first individual indoor race with Tech, automatically qualified in the women's mile with a time of 4:43.04. The mark reset the Athletic Training Facility record which was previously 4:45.24.

Provisionally qualifying were three other members of the women's squad: Irene Kimaiyo (mile), Amanda Alley (pole vault) and Patience Knight (shot put). Kimaiyo finished the mile in a time of 4:49.79, second to only Kipyego. Alley became Tech's first qualifying mark when she hit 12'-11.5" in the pole vault on the first day of action. Knight, the San Antonio sophomore, threw a personal best distance and provisional mark of 50'-8.25" in the shot put on Saturday.

Despite failing to earn any qualifying marks at the first meet on the men's side, promise was shown from old and new, alike. Marlon Odom, senior All-American, and Daryl Burgess each ran a 7.96 in the men's 60M hurdles, setting a high standard in the event's first running at the ATC. The marks missed the provisional qualification by .07 seconds. Odom finished first in the championship heat of the event.

The men's distance medley relay finished in a time of 10:09.42 to set a new facility record. The squad of Silas Kemboi, Zach Glavash, Edwin Sang and Kevin Chelimo broke the previous record of 10:17.21.

Newcomers that performed well in their first collegiate meet were Ryan Adkins, Justin Turner and Brandon Washington. Adkins ran the top times for the Red Raiders in the men's 55M. Turner placed second after clearing a height of 6'-9" in the men's high jump. Washington placed first in the 400M (49.16), 600Y (1:11.44) and as a member of the men's 4x400M relay.

To follow the action at the Dan Dehart Invitational from Albuquerque, N.M., live event results can be found on www.recordtiming.com during each days competition. For complete Red Raider results, please visit www.texastech.com after the completion of each day.

The Emerald Ticket
Red Raiders looking to earn their way into the NCAA Indoor Championships on March 9-10 at Seattle this weekend will include many of the Tech distance runners.

Scheduled to make the trip are current qualified individuals Sally Kipyego and Irene Kimaiyo. Each will be looking for their "ticket" in a different race as they will compete in the 3000M along with teammate Violet Chemakwila. Gladys Kipsang will run in the mile and 1000M race, with Asia Diaz joining in the 1000M.

For the men, Kevin Chelimo will be looking for his first qualifying mark in the 3000M. Indoor 800M All-American from a year ago, Zach Glavash will compete in the same event in Seattle with junior transfer Edwin Sang.

The women's mile is set for 10:45 a.m., followed by the men's mile. The tentative schedule lists the final events for Tech at 2:45 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. when the women's and men's 3000M will begin, respectively.

Complete results of the Husky Invitational can be found on host Washington's official athletic site, www.gohuskies.com, following the day's events. A recap of Texas Tech's results will be made available on www.texastech.com soon after.

Multi-Threat
Junior Tech multis competitor Julianne Kennedy will get her first look at the pentathlon this season. Kennedy is scheduled to first compete in the 60M hurdles on Friday at the Roger Cox Multis in Albuquerque.

Kennedy competed in four events last weekend at the Texas Tech Invitational. She set personal bests in the 60M hurdles with a time of 9.01 and the 400M, clocking 1:03.60.

The Sherman, Texas, native also competed in the shot put and high jump. She threw for 37'-1.25" and cleared a height of 5'-2.25".

Kennedy's pentathlon schedule is as follows:
Friday (all times Mountain):
10 a.m.: 60M hurdles
10:40 a.m.: High jump
12 p.m.: Shot put
1:15 p.m.: Long Jump
2:15 p.m.: 800M

Record Setters
In the first meet of the season, competition was strong as six new facility records were set and two were added as a first-run event on the track.

Both men's and women's 5000M records were broken and both by members of South Plains College. Nineteen seconds were shaved off of the men's record, going from 14:49.37 to 14:30.40. The women's record was shattered as Bridgett Tidwell's 2002 record of 18:10.06 is now owned by Lillian Badaru with a time of 17:43.44.

The men's weight throw was reset by Libor Charfreitag and now stands at 81'-1".

Tech runners set three new facility records. Both men's and women's distance medley relays broke the previous records: the men's going from 10:17.21 to 10:09.42; the women's 11:56.53 to 11:44.14. Sally Kipyego finished the mile in a record time of 4:43.04, breaking the previous mark of 4:45.24.

Right For Knight
Tech sophomore thrower Patience Knight started out strong in her first indoor meet of the season. Not only did she throw an NCAA provisional distance in the shot put, but she exceeded her personal bests in both the shot and weight throw.

The San Antonio native threw for 50'-8.25" in the shot on January 20th, shattering her previous best of 46'-10.75" from the Big 12 Championships last season. Her provisional mark is her first for indoor track and field.

In the weight throw, Knight finished in third, but overthrew her best mark from her freshman year by a foot. Her previous best of 50'-10.25", also recorded at the conference meet last season, was out-done by her toss of 51'-11.75" at the invitational on Jan. 19th.

In Translation
After the Red Raider women had a remarkable cross country season, the team had hopes that those successes would translate into track success. Those hopes became more of a reality already after one meet.

The cross country team finished with many notable achievements, including the school's highest ever ranking of 13th and the first team qualification to the NCAA Championships. Much of those successes are due to the accomplishments of All-Americans Sally Kipyego and Irene Kimaiyo.

Many probably weren't surprised that Tech's first automatic NCAA mark came in a distance event, as Kipyego qualified in the women's mile event. Kimaiyo wasn't far behind as she hit a provisional mark in the same race.

In distance events in the last meet, women Tech members finished with eight top-five finishes, including two distance medley relay teams.

This Time Last Year
Last year the team found some successes at the New Mexico Invitational, with two new school records being set. Daryl Burgess and Shawon Harris both broke the 60M hurdle school record with a time of 7.94. That was to be the first of three times the record was broken during the indoor season.

Tori Polk, a Tech senior who will compete during the outdoor season, also broke the school record for long jump. Her distance of 21'-2.75" was an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and ranked fifth on the national performance list, first in the conference.

Two athletes also met provisional marks, both in field events. Then-senior Sage Thames hit a height of 17'-0.75" in the pole vault, while now-senior Misty Coley cleared 5'-11.25" in the high jump, a height that remained 12th best in the country.