TECH HOSTS FINAL INDOOR MEET OF SEASON

TECH HOSTS FINAL INDOOR MEET OF SEASON

February 04, 2009 | Track and Field

Feb. 4, 2009

LUBBOCK, Texas - Texas Tech is hosting its final Invitational of the year and will send two athletes to the Boston Indoor Games as it further prepares for the Big 12 Championships.

The Tech Invitational begins on Thursday with the multis competition and the multis will conclude on Friday. The throwers of Harrison Benjamin, D'Andra Carter, Patience Knight and Ozie Okolie return to action on Saturday, after a week of training.

Senior Sally Kipyego and sophomore Gilbert Limo are headed to the Boston Indoor Games to compete on Saturday. Limo will run the collegiate mile and the field has three runners who have ran four minute miles. Limo will run at 7 p.m. EST.

Kipyego is making her second trip to the Reebok Boston Indoor Games and is running the 3,000M. The field includes Kara Goucher who is the 2007 bronze medalist in the 10K at the World Championships. For the second year in a row, Kipyego is the only collegian running in the race and it is scheduled for 6:10 p.m. EST.

Live results of the Texas Tech Invitational can be found by going to www.texastech.com and results of the Reebok Boston Indoor Games can be found at www.bostonindoorgames.com.

Last Week

Junior Anthony Flemons punched his ticket to the NCAA Indoor Championships in the triple jump with an NCAA automatic mark and personal-best 53'-00.75". The mark is the fourth best in the nation. Gil Roberts ran a NCAA provisional time of 21.09 in the 200M and Darrell Roddick jumped 50'-9.50" to provisionally qualify. Terra Evans ran her first NCAA provisional mark with a 7.41 in the 60M dash and Trudeann Clarke ran a 54.40 to qualify in the 400M.

Rankings

The Red Raiders and Lady Raiders stayed in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association indoor rankings compiled by Tom Lewis, after two weeks of competition. The men fell one spot to No. 8 and the women fell back two spots to No. 13. The men and women are both the third-ranked Big 12 teams.

Television Time

Lady Raider Sally Kipyego will be featured on FSN as they will be doing a Big 12 Showcase over Kipyego. The show will air on Wed., Feb. 4th, at 6 p.m. and again on Sat., Feb. 7th, at 10 a.m. The Boston Indoor Games will be aired on Sun., Feb. 8th, on ESPN2 from 3-5 p.m.

High Mark

Anthony Flemons' jump of 53'-00.75" is the third-best jump in school history and a personal best for the junior.

National Lists

Texas Tech has 19 athletes and two relay entries on the National Performance List. Gil Roberts is No.2 on the 400M list with a time of 46.59 and fourth in the 200M with a time of 21.09. Gilbert Limo is 12th in the mile with 4:03.25 and Omo Osaghae is second in the 60M hurdles with a time of 7.72. The men's 4x400M relay ran a 3:10.14 which is eighth overall. Harrison Benjamin is currently 12th with a throw of 59'-7". Anthony Flemons sits fourht in the trple jump with a mark of 53'-00.75" and Darrell Roddick is 28th with a jump of 50'-9.50". Sally Kipyego is the top 5,000m runner with a 15;54.36 and Lillian Badaru is fifth with a 16:21.59. The women's distance medley relay is fourth with a time of 11:15.40. The Lady Raiders have three throwers on the list as Patience Knight is second in shot put with a mark of 54'-9.25" and D'Andra Carter is 14th with a throw of 51'-2.75". Ozie Okolie is sixth in the weight throw with a distance of 66'-3.75". Terra Evans lands 17th in the 60M and Trudeann Clarke sits 12th in the 400M. Amanda Alley is 23rd on the pole vault list with a height of 12'-11.50".

Another School Record in the Books

Junior Ozie Okolie bested her school record in the weight throw by two feet and provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships with the throw of 66'-3.75".

Big 12 AOW

Sophomore Gil Roberts earned his first Big 12 Athlete of the Week honors for his performance at the Texas Tech Invitational on Jan. 17th. He won the 400M in impressive fashion with a NCAA provisional and personal-best time of 46.59.

School Record Broke

Omo Osaghae broke a year-old school record held by former teammate Shawon Harris on Sat., Jan. 17th. He won the 55M hurdles with a NCAA provisional and personal-best time of 7.17.

Star Studded Returners

Texas Tech has a total of eight All-Americans returning for the 2009 season. The group is highlighted by eight-time NCAA champion Sally Kipyego. Two-time All-American throwers Patience Knight and D'Andra Carter are the other women retuning. The men have Anthony Flemons, Tim Foster, Rodney Mims, Omo Osaghae and Gil Roberts.

History in the Making

Senior Sally Kipyego is entering her final season as a Lady Raider and has the potential to make history. During the fall, the Kenyan native became the first male or female in Division I history to win three-straight NCAA cross country individual championships. Kipyego has eight NCAA individual titles and could tie Wisconsin's Suzy Favor who has the most female individual titles in track & field and cross country NCAA history with nine.

Newcomers

Tech has 27 newcomers for the season. The men boast the fifth-best recruiting class in the nation by Track and Field News and the class is highlighted by Markus Henderson, Jamele Mason and Brandon Tucker. The women have a strong group of freshmen and transfers. Lillian Badaru has already made a name for herself as she earned her first All-American honor in cross country last fall.

New Additions

The Texas Tech track program added a new face as Roy Williams, a former TCU All-American, was hired to coach sprints and relays. Williams spent the last three years at the University of Texas at Arlington as the associate head coach of sprints, relays, jumps and hurdles. He coached an Olympic qualifier in the 200M and 4x100M relay and an All-American in the 110M hurdles during his tenure.

10-Year Anniversary

This season marks the 10th year that head coach Wes Kittley has been with the Texas Tech track & field program. Since then his program has seen nine NCAA champions and 97 All-American honors.