Tech to Compete in Three Meets this Weekend
February 04, 2010 | Track and Field
Feb. 4, 2010
LUBBOCK, Texas -
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The No. 15 Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders after having an unexpected weekend off will be scattered across the nation as Tech will run at the New Balance Invitational in New York, N.Y., the New Mexico Classic and Combined Events in Albuquerque, N.M. and at the Texas Tech Open at the Athletic Training Center.
The distance medley relays will be headed to New York for the New Balance Invitational as will Michelle Guzman to run the 5,000M. The women's DMR of Purity Biwott, Trudeann Clarke, Gladys Kipsang and Caroline Karunde have the nation's sixth-fastest time at 11:24.10. It will be a competitive field as defending NCAA Champion Tennessee will be running as well as Arkansas who has the second-fastest time in the nation.
The men will send Gilbert Limo, Zach Plinario, Zach Dawson and Silas Kemboi into New York looking to improve on the sixth best time in the nation at 9:49.56. Arkansas, BYU, Duke, George Mason and Texas A&M make up the field on the men's side.
The group headed to the New Mexico Classic and Combined events will be Kelsey Lloyd and Katie Grimes competing in the pentathlon and Nick Green and Chuck Zavala in the heptathlon. Bryce Lamb and Darrell Roddick are entered in the triple jump for the first time this season while Amanda Alley, Brian Porter and Shade Weygandt will all compete in the pole vault.
The Texas Tech Open will be the third meet hosted this year by Tech. The likes of Hardin-Simmons, McMurry, New Mexico Junior College, North Texas, Oklahoma City, South Plains, Trinity, UL-Monroe and Wayland Baptist will be in town to compete this weekend.
The New Balance Collegiate Invite begins Friday night with the distance medley relay with the 5,000M to be run on Saturday. The New Mexico Classic and Combine Events begin Friday and will conclude on Saturday. The Texas Tech Open begins on Saturday at 10 a.m. with field events and running events will start at 11 a.m.
National Rankings
Several Red Raiders have positioned themselves in the top 10 with some impressive early marks.
Latoy Williams 46.84 400M 9th
Omo Osaghae 7.75 110M H 3rd
Men's 3:08.13 4x400M 8th
Women's 11:24.10 DMR 6th
Shade Weygandt 4.25 (13'-11.25") PV 6th
Bryce Lamb 7.81 (25'-7.75") LJ 3rd
Raising the Bar
Freshman Shade Weygandt in two meets so far has put her name in the Texas Tech school records twice. Her first meet she set the pole vault school record at 4.11M (13'-5.75"). One week later she re-set the school record by clearing 4.25M (13'-11.25") and automatically qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Family Connections
Texas Tech has some unique family connections in the track and field family. The Lady Raiders have two sets of twins on the team with Caroline and Winrose Karunde and Terra and Taylor Evans. The Karunde are both transfers to the program with Caroline from Wayland Baptist and Winrose from ACU. Terra has been here from the start of her collegiate career while her sister Taylor transferred from LSU this past summer.
Returning All-Americans
Markus Henderson, Omo Osaghae and Gil Roberts are the three retuning All-Americans for the 2010 season. Henderson was a member of the NCAA Indoor 4x400M relay that was named All-American. Osaghae was the 60M hurdle national runner-up while Roberts was the national runner-up in the 400M and a member of the 4x400M relay as well.
Hurdle All-Americans
The Red Raiders have had an All-American hurdler every year since 2005. The streak began with Marlon Odom in 2005 in the 110M hurdles. Odom earned All-America honors in the 110M hurdles in 2006 and 2007 while also earning the honor in the 60M hurdles in 2007. Other names such as Bryan Scott, All-American in the 400M hurdles in 2006 and 2007, and Shawon Harris, All-American in 2006 in the 60M hurdles and 600M hurdles, have kept the streak alive. Harris was also named an All-American in the 110M hurdles and 60M hurdles in 2008. Omo Osaghae continued the streak for Tech in the 110M hurdles in 2008 and then the 60M hurdles in 2009.
13 NCAA Individual Champions
Tech has compiled 13 NCAA Individual Champions in its program history. The most recent was from D'Andra Carter as she won the 2009 NCAA Discus title in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It was the first field event national title in program history and the 12th title on the female side.
Facility Honors
The Terry and Linda Fuller track was named the American Sports Builders Association's Facility of the Year Award in December. The facility was renovated and a Super Mondo X track was put down and Tech hosted the 2009 Big 12 Outdoor Championships the past May.
Players Mentioned
