Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Athletics
Big 12 Indoor Championships
Red Raiders Earn Three Big 12 Titles After Day One
February 23, 2007 | Track and Field
Feb. 23, 2007
AMES, Iowa - The Texas Tech Raiders finished the first day of the Big 12 Championships with three titles and the women currently in the lead of the team standings. Texas Tech junior Julianne Kennedy became the first Red Raider female multis competitor to champion the event, as the Sherman, Texas, native won the Big 12 pentathlon on Friday. Irene Kimaiyo finished first in the 5000M for her first Big 12 title, while the women's distance medley relay erased a remarkable deficit to capture the title.
The pentathlon kicked off the Big 12 indoor championships, which are being hosted by Iowa State University. After Kennedy's win, the women's team had a leg up on the competition as they captured the first 10 points.
"This is a good start for the team; it gets us setup in the right way," Kennedy said. "I am blessed to finish well. God has blessed me with this opportunity. It is good to know that hard work pays off, but God gets all the glory."
Kennedy finished the event with 4025 points, a new personal best, Tech record and an NCAA provisional mark - 25 points from an automatic qualification. In the process of resetting the school record, Kennedy notched three personal bests in the individual events. In the high jump, she had a leap of 5'-8.5", while also besting in the shot put (41'-1.5") and the 800M with a time of 2:28.41.
Kimaiyo finished the women's 5000M with a provisional mark of 16:23.09, while Violet Chemakwila earned the team five points with a fourth-place run of 16:47.43.
The women's DMR was as far back as sixth place before reigning NCAA cross country champion Sally Kipyego took over with the baton. The Red Raiders finished the race .08 of a second ahead of Oklahoma to take the title with a time of 11:18.07. The team of Asia Diaz, Louise Cox, Gladys Kipsang and Kipyego set a new school record, which was previously broken earlier this year.
Adding to Tech's points were Red Raider pole vaulters Lindsey Walesheck, Amanda Alley and Kelley Schulz. Walesheck broke the school record after clearing 13'-5.25" and finishing third. Alley placed fifth with a height of 13'-1.5", while Schulz cleared 12'-5.5" to finish eighth.
On the men's side, Tech earned points from junior Bobby Evers and Anthony Flemons as they finished third and seventh respectively. Evers jumped a distance of 25'-0.5" to mark a personal best, while Flemons finished with a jump of 24'-5.5" also a new PR.
The Red Raiders will complete the Big 12 Indoor Championships on Saturday with the finals of many of the running events along with several of the field events. For live results, please visit Iowa State's website, www.cyclones.com, and Texas Tech results will be available online at www.texastech.com.
Players Mentioned
