Texas Tech University Athletics
Track Closes Regular Season with Packed Schedule
April 25, 2007 | Track and Field
April 25, 2007
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LUBBOCK, Texas - In the final weekend of competition prior to the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, the Texas Tech track team will divide to three separate locations, including Des Moines, Iowa, for the famed Drake Relays. A number of student-athletes will travel to Norman, Okla., for the Sooner Invitational, while several will take part in the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
This week's busy schedule will first have Red Raiders competing on Friday at the 98th annual Drake Relays. Thirty-three Techsters qualified either individually or with a relay for the event. The men's 4x100 will first take the track at 9:38 a.m. during the April 27th morning session. The No. 9-ranked men's 4x400M relay will close out the night for Tech members with a tentative start at 3:55 p.m.
Saturday is jam-packed with track and field events as all three events (Drake, Sooner and Payton Jordan Invite) will be running. Bright and early in Des Moines will be the running of the men's shuttle hurdle relay at 8:33 a.m. Asia Diaz will be the final Tech runner at the Relays with a 4:57 p.m. start for the women's 1500M.
Twenty Red Raiders are scheduled for the Sooner Invitational in Norman, Okla. The women's hammer throw featuring Tech redshirt freshman Ozie Okolie will be contested on Fri., April 27th at 5:30 p.m. The remainder of the events will take place on Saturday at John Jacobs Field, beginning at 11 a.m. for Tech. Freshman thrower Paden Behrens will be competing in the men's javelin at that time. Events will wrap up for the Red Raiders around 4:20 following the men's and women's 3000M with Jessica Stovall and John Means.
Over on the West Coast, Tech distance standouts will run at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif. Possible Red Raiders on the trip and their events are as follows: Gladys Kipsang (1500M), Kevin Chelimo (5000M), Irene Kimaiyo (5000M), Violet Chemakwila (10000M) and Sally Kipyego (10000M). Chemakwila and Kipyego will be racing for NCAA automatic marks to June's national meet; the time to beat is 33:30.00 for an automatic mark or provisionally qualify, which Chemakwila previously has this season, with a run of 35:00.00.
Live results will be available for each event. For the Drake Relays, visit www.drakerelays.org, and live streaming video is scheduled to be available on www.drakebroadcasting.com. For the Sooner Invite, results can be found on www.deltatiming.com, while Stanford's site, www.gostanford.com, will link to results from the Payton Jordan.
A recap of all three events will be found on Texas Tech's athletic website, www.texastech.com, following the completion of each meet.
DRAKE RELAYS TIDBITS
The infamous Drake Relays has come a long way during its 98-year history. The inaugural edition was said to have been witnessed by 100 spectators, while Drake is aiming for its 42nd-consecutive sellout (18,000) of the Saturday program this year... Olympic gold medalists Michael Johnson and Gwen Torrence are members of the Drake Relays Hall of Fame... Clyde Littlefield, former Texas track and field coach and creator of the Texas Relays, is a member of the Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame... Jesse Owens was named the Drake Relays Athlete of the Half Century in 1959... This year's edition is expected to have 7,851 athletes from 676 teams participate... 49 universities are sending 799 male competitors, while 62 programs will send 861 females... The Relays will host 113 total events for the third-consecutive year... Tech did not attend last year's edition, but sent several runners the year prior to that.
TECH DRAKE HISTORY
Last year the Red Raiders opted for the other prestigious relays that occur this time of the year, the Penn Relays, bypassing the Drake Relays. However, during the 2005 season, Tech members took part in both events, with runners traveling to Des Moines, Iowa.
In the women's 5000M, three Red Raiders ran regional marks, including current team members Violet Chemakwila and Irene Kimaiyo. Chemakwila finished second with a clocking of 16:32.78. Kimaiyo captured a sixth-place finish in a time of 16:44.24. Former Tech runner Bridget Tidwell also regionally-qualified after finishing seventh in a time of 16:46.99.
On the second day of competition, current seniors Marlon Odom and Bryan Scott qualified, with Odom running 14.21 in the 110M hurdles and Scott finishing the 400M hurdles in sixth with a time of 51.05.
Former Tech track members Haron Lagat and Benson Cheserek took the second and third spot in the men's 3000M steeplechase. Brionne Yosten titled the women's 1500M in a run of 4:28.92, while Kyle Atwood finished 11th for the men.
DRAKE MARKS IN TECH BOOKS
Three of the top-five marks in Texas Tech track and field history took place at the Drake Relays.
• No. 4 Men's Hammer Throw:
189'-10" by Jason Young on 4/26/03
• No. 3 Women's 1500M:
4:22.28 by Brionne Yosten on 4/26/03
• No. 1 Women's 3K Steeplechase:
10:25.52 by Stefanie Calhoun on 4/29/05
RED RAIDERS AMONG IAAF RANKINGS
Two of Tech's outstanding individuals are currently listed among the top 50 in the world in their respective events, according to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).
Marlon Odom, who ran his fastest time this year of 13.50 at last week's TCU Invitational, is the 47th-ranked 110M hurdler. Two weeks ago Odom finished with a run of 13.57 to mark the third-fastest wind-aided time in school history. Last week's run currently sits as the second-fastest wind-aided mark, giving Odom the top four times in school history.
Three-time national champion Sally Kipyego is ranked 42nd among women's 5000M and 10000M runners. She has only competed in the 5000M this outdoor season, finishing in a regional mark and 8th-fastest time in the world of 15:19.72 at the Mt. SAC Relays. She will run the 10000M for the first time as a Tech member at Saturday's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.
CLIMBING THE POLLS
Texas Tech is sitting in fine position in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association national poll. The men have made an improvement to sit in 16th place, while the women are currently hanging steady at 14th.
Florida State leads the men's and indoor champion Arizona State is first for the women.
Other Big 12 members in the top 20 poll for the men are No. 5 Texas and No. 18 Baylor. No. 6 Texas, No. 8 Texas A&M and No. 16 Nebraska are also among the women's conference programs that are ranked.
FIRST-TIME QUALIFIERS
During last week's TCU Invitational, Texas Tech added three first-time regional qualifiers to the list of 29 already regional bound.
Tech's dual-sport prodigy Lyle Leong was competing in his first outdoor meet for Tech since the end of spring football. The freshman Red Raider leapt a distance of 24'-4.5" to regionally qualify in the men's long jump.
Another freshman who will be eligible for the NCAA Midwest Regional in Des Moines, Iowa, is Lubbcok native Omo Osaghae. The Monterey product qualified in the men's 110M hurdles with a clocking of 14.18.
The men added their seventh field event athlete for the regionals as junior transfer student Michael Cast met the mark. The Pearland, Texas, native threw for 203'-8" in the javelin.
Players Mentioned
