Tech Impresses On Day One Of Big 12 Indoors
February 27, 2015 | Track and Field
Feb. 27, 2015
Through one day of competition, the Red Raiders sit in fifth in team scoring with 23.5 points, and the Lady Raiders have 26.5 points, good enough for sixth.
"I saw a lot of good things out there today," Texas Tech head coach Wes Kittley said. "Nothing earth-shattering happened that made me think we aren't still in contention. We're about where I thought we needed to be heading into Saturday. We need to worry about taking care of our business tomorrow. We can control what we do. We don't need to spend energy worrying about what our opponents are doing."
Kole Weldon was up to his usual tricks at the Big 12 Championship, as he took runner-up honors in the weight throw, with a launch of 19.64m/64-05.25. This marks the third-straight indoor season in which Weldon has taken second place in either the weight throw or shot put at Big 12 Indoors.
"Kole came through for us like he always has," Kittley said. "He has always been so consistent and done so at a very high level. You never want to count points in advance, but over the years it has been a pretty safe bet that Kole is going to give a great performance at the conference meet."
The Red Raiders earned 10 valuable team points in the men's long jump, as Jerome Wilson (7.46m/24-5.75) took 3rd and Keniel Grant (7.31m/23-11.75), who threw down the No. 5 mark in the nation last week, placed 5th. Kyle Thompson added four and a half points after tying for fourth in the men's pole vault, clearing 5.23m/17-01.75.
Shanice Stewart started the day for Tech with a third-place finish in the women's pentathlon (3,933), improving on her fourth-place performance in 2014. This marks the third All-Big 12 honor of the combined events variety for Stewart in her Tech career.
Natalie Thompson (3,877) joined Stewart on the medal stand with a fifth-place finish, and Kami Norton placed eighth, amassing 3,764 points. The three athletes combined to give Tech 11 team points in the event.
"It was so great for us to have those three women score in the pentathlon," Kittley said. "They all did a great job and competed hard, which is all you can ask for. I'm very proud of how they performed."
In the women's long jump, Stewart (6.16m/20-02.50, third place), Gionna Jackson (6.03m/19-09.50, fourth place) and Paetyn Revell (5.85m/19-02.50, seventh place) each earned All-Big 12 honors, combining to score 13 valuable team points. Stewart scored 14 points by herself on Friday and has a chance for more on Saturday.
"Everything was going right for me today," Stewart said. "I started well, and even though I had a couple mixups after that, I was able to get it back on track. I'm just excited to be able to contribute to what the women are doing as a team. We have the chance to do some damage, too."
In the men's distance medley relay, the quartet of Todd Mickey, Kemonie Briggs, Kendall McVey and Nick Rivera took eighth, with a time of 10:02.47.
The Red Raiders will send five athletes to the 60m hurdles finals tomorrow, as Stewart (8.34) and Le'Tristan Pledger (8.34) advance on the women's side, and on the men's side, Chris Caldwell (7.82), Tramaine Maloney (8.02) and Darien Tennon (8.09) all moved on to the finals.
Tech also pushed three athletes through to the 400m dash finals, as Joseph Richards III (46.80) and Steven Champlin (47.05) made the men's final, and Montenae Speight (53.91) got through on the women's side. Tech sent two more men through to the finals in the 600 yard run, as Kyle Collins (1:11.71) and Sirron Warren (1:12.34) advanced to tomorrow's final.
Trevor Mackey will run in tomorrow's men's 200m dash final, after qualifying tonight with a collegiate best-equaling 21.18, and Nick Rivera earned a place in tomorrow's 1,000m final, running a 2:26.33 to automatically qualify.
In the women's 60 meter dash prelims, Cierra White ran a 7.32 to win her heat and automatically qualify for tomorrow's final.
In the men's heptathlon, Tech freshman Cameron Retherford set collegiate bests in each of the four events in which he competed, and sits in sixth place going into Saturday's conclusion.
"In order to score a bunch of points, you have to be able to qualify athletes in a bunch of finals, and we did that today," Kittley said. "I'm excited for what Saturday brings. I think we're about in the position we wanted to be."
Texas Tech will be back in action tomorrow in Ames for the conclusion of the Big 12 Championships, with combined events and running events starting at 11 a.m., and the field events getting underway at noon.
Players Mentioned
