Red Raiders Ready For Big 12 Indoor Championships
February 26, 2015 | Track and Field
Feb. 26, 2015
On the men's side, the Big 12 Championships will feature some of the best competition in the nation, as evidenced by having seven teams ranked in the USTFCCCA Top 25.
The No. 10 Red Raiders enter the weekend having won the most recent Big 12 title, the 2014 outdoor championship, and are hungry for a title of the indoor variety.
"The indoor championships haven't always suited us well in the past," Texas Tech head coach Wes Kittley said. "Because of that, a lot of the time, we would worry more about chasing marks at this meet. However, I believe we have the depth to compete for a title this year. We are going to need some great performances, but this is as good of a stage as any to do so."
On the women's side, the No. 17 Lady Raiders represent one of the Big 12's four nationally ranked teams. In 2014, the Lady Raider 4 x 400 meter relay brought home a Big 12 title, and return Cierra White and Montenae Speight.
On Friday, combined events begin at 10 a.m., while field and running events start at 3 p.m. On Saturday, events get started at 11 a.m. Big12sports.com will host a free live stream of the event, and live results will be available at deltatiming.com.
Out of the Blocks
• The Big 12 Indoor Track & Field Championships will play host to a combined 11 nationally-ranked track & field teams.
• Four different Red Raiders broke school records at last weekend's Red Raider Open: Le'Tristan Pledger (7.55) broke her own 55m hurdles record, Cierra White (6.80) snapped the school's 55 meter dash record, Kole Weldon (20.58m/67-6.25) smashed his own weight throw school record and Chris Caldwell (7.16) etched his name as the school's men's 55m hurdles record holder.
• Texas Tech has had three athletes--JaCorian Duffield, Le'Tristan Pledger and Cierra White (twice) combine for four Big 12 Athlete of the Week awards, the most in the Big 12 this season. White became the first Lady Raider to win the award twice in the same indoor season since Sally Kipyego in 2007.
• The men's and women's teams have a combined 19 nationally (Top 50) ranked athletes and two ranked relays. Eight of those athletes and one relay are currently in position to qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships. The top 16 athletes in each event, along with the top 12 relays in each relay event will make the cut.
• The Texas Tech men's and women's track & field teams remained ranked in the U.S Track & Field And Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) computer rankings this week, checking in at No. 10 and No. 17, respectively. This is the third time in program history that both programs have maintained top-20 rankings from the preseason all the way through the conference championships.
Who's Got Next?
Texas Tech track & field will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, to be held March 13-14.
Aiming For Arkansas
The top 16 individuals and top 12 relays in each event qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships, in Fayetteville, Ark. Texas Tech currently has a combined eight individuals and one relay in position to qualify, with another four athletes and one relay within 12 spots of qualification.
Making History
Texas Tech has already had seven individuals combine to break nine different school records this season, with many of those having been broken twice already. Overall, Tech indoor school records have been broken 13 times in 2015. The Red Raiders had seven athletes break school records in the entirety of the 2014 season.
Last Year At The Big 12 Championships
The Lady Raider 4x400 relay team capped off the 2014 Big 12 Indoor Championships with the program's first conference title in the event as the squad brought to a close the two-day meet at the Lied Recreation Center.
The relay, comprised of Montenae Speight, Cierra White, Christen Rivers and Amoy Blake crossed the finish line in 3:34.90, outlasting a squad from Texas on the final straightaway. The performance capped off a busy and competitive two days of competition at the conference meet in which the Red Raiders finished fourth in the team standings with 92 points while the Lady Raiders finished in sixth with 70.5.
The 92 points scored by the Red Raiders are the second-most by a Texas Tech men's team at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in program history, just shy of the 93 points scored in 2008. Meanwhile, the Lady Raiders tallied the most by a women's squad at Texas Tech since 2011. Ten of those points came in the final event on the track with the victory in the 4x400 relay.
One day after breaking his own school record in the weight throw, Weldon returned to the Lied
Recreation Center and finished runner-up in the shot put with a throw of 19.80m/64-11.50. He was followed by teammate Jorge Garcia who finished fifth with a throw of 18.03m/59-2, as the pair combined for 12 points in the event.
Last Time Out
Cierra White, Le'Tristan Pledger, Chris Caldwell and Kole Weldon etched their names in the Texas Tech track & field record books once again at the Red Raider Open, in Lubbock, on Friday.
White won the 55 meter dash final to lead the No. 14 Lady Raiders, with a school and facility-record time of 6.80. White has now broken the Texas Tech 55m dash, 60m dash and 200m dash school records in 2015.
Pledger broke the school and facility records in the 55m hurdles for the second time this season, running a blistering 7.55 to win the event.
Chris Caldwell took second place in the 55m hurdles, but did so with a school-record time of 7.16, falling short only to former Tech legend and school record-holder in the event, Omo Osaghae. Caldwell moved from No. 6 to No. 5 in the nation, in the event.
In the men's weight throw, Kole Weldon led the way for the No. 13 Red Raiders, launching the weight 20.58m/67-6.25, breaking his own school record by more than a foot. He also won the shot put, with a toss of 19.17m/62-10.75. This performance marks the third time this season that Weldon has swept the shot put and weight throw at a meet.
Program Notables
• Tech has had nine individual first or second team indoor All-Americans in the past two years.
• The Red Raiders return six athletes who scored at least eight points at the 2014 Big 12 Indoor Championships.
• In 2014, seven Texas Tech track & field athletes were able to break school records.
• In 2015, Texas Tech returns six athletes, who at some points in their careers, have earned first team All-American indoor status.
• The Tech men's 2014 Big 12 outdoor team title was the fifth team title between the track & field and cross country programs since 1999.
Players Mentioned
