Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Roll Into Fayetteville For NCAA Indoors
March 12, 2015 | Track and Field
March 12, 2015
The Red Raiders will begin competition on Friday at 6 p.m. with the men's and women's long jump. On Saturday, Shanice Stewart will start the day with the women's pentathlon at 11:30 a.m., with running events getting started at 6 p.m. both days.
The meet will be streamed live on Watch ESPN, with coverage on both days beginning at 6 p.m., CT, and live results will be available at flashresults.com.
Tech is bringing five individual men's competitors, plus the 4 x 400m relay and an alternate, while three Lady Raiders made the trip to Fayetteville, but they will combine to compete in five events.
"There isn't much coaching left to do at this point," Texas Tech head coach Wes Kittley said. "They know what they need to do. We have a veteran-laden group here, and just about all of them have been in this environment before. We brought them here to the Tyson Invitational last month in order to give them a sense of this place and get used to it. I'm looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish."
On the men's side, the Red Raiders will be led by All-American high jumpers JaCorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins, who tied for fifth at this meet in 2014. Keniel Grant will compete in the long jump, Big 12 Champion Chris Caldwell will run the 60 meter hurdles, Kole Weldon will throw in the shot put and Tech will run the 4 x400m relay.
For the women, Big 12 200m champion Cierra White will run her signature event, along with the 60m dash, Le'Tristan Pledger will run the 60m hurdles and Shanice Stewart will compete in both the long jump and pentathlon.
Out of the Blocks
? Texas Tech has already competed twice at the Randal Tyson Center this season, at the Tyson Invitational and Arkansas Open.
? Texas Tech picked up a couple firsts at the Big 12 Championships two weeks ago. JaCorian Duffield became the first Red Raider to win a Big 12 indoor high jump title, and Cierra White became the first Lady Raider to win a Big 12 indoor 200 meter championship. The Tech men's second-place finish was their highest in Big 12 Indoor Championships history.
? Tech combined to take home four USTFCCCA regional postseason awards this week. For the Mountain Region, Tech head coach Wes Kittley was named Men's Coach of the Year, associate head coach Dion Miller was named the Women's Assistant of the Year, Cierra White earned the title of Women's Track Athlete of the Year and JaCorian Duffield was tabbed as the Men's Field Athlete of the Year. This is the second-straight season in which the Red Raiders have won a combined four regional postseason athlete and coach awards, which is the highest total in program history. Tech took four awards home in the 2014 outdoors season as well, following the men's Big 12 team title.
? 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. 22, respectively. This is the third time in program history that both programs have maintained top-25 rankings throughout the duration of the indoor season.
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 14 times in 2015.
Last Year At the NCAA Championships
It didn't take long for Texas Tech to make its presence felt during the opening day of competition at the NCAA Indoor Championships inside the Albuquerque Convention Center Friday afternoon.
The No. 24 Red Raiders, represented by a pair of Texas natives in the men's high jump, got on the awards stand early thanks to a historic performance out of sophomore Bradley Adkins and junior JaCorian Duffield.
The pair tied for fifth overall in the competition, each securing First Team All-America honors, and combining for seven points for the Red Raiders in the team standings. With the performance, Texas Tech became the first school in 15 years to place two athletes in the top-5 of the men's high jump at the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Later on the track, Lady Raider sophomore Le'Tristan Pledger finished ninth in the preliminaries of the women's 60-meter hurdles with a time of 8.17 seconds. She finished fourth in her heat, and was .04 seconds outside the final qualifying spot for Saturday's finals.
Pledger also finished 12th in the trials of the women's long jump where she went 6.05m (10-10.25) on her first attempt. She matched the jump on her third attempt before competing in the 60-meter hurdles moments later on the track.
Teammate Shanice Stewart finished 11th in the long jump after going 6.10-meters (20-0.25) on her third attempt.
Last Time Out
It all came down to the final race of the weekend, but the No. 10 Texas Tech men's track & field team earned its highest overall finish in the Big 12 Indoor Championships history, in Ames, Iowa, on Saturday.
Tech entered the final race of the day, the men's 4 x 400m relay, just 4.5 points behind Oklahoma State. The quartet of Kyle Collins, C.J. Jones, Steven Champlin and Joseph Richards III ran a 3:08.02 to take third place, and the six points that go with it, to vault into the No. 2 spot, with 95.5 team points.
Tech's second-place finish is the highest finish for the Red Raiders in the history of the Big 12 Indoor Championships. Texas Tech picked up three individual conference titles on Saturday. Cierra White led the No. 17 Lady Raiders with a school & facility record-breaking 22.98 to win the 200 meter dash. It marked the first individual Big 12 title of White's decorated career.
JaCorian Duffield earned the first Big 12 title of his career, clearing 2.22m/7-3.25 to win the men's high jump. Bradley Adkins earned All-Big 12 honors in the event, taking fifth place, with a clearance of 2.17m/7-1.50.
In the men's 60 meter hurdles, Chris Caldwell continued his incredible debut season with a conference title, running a 7.76. Caldwell was joined on the medal stand by Tramaine Maloney (8.11), who placed seventh, and Darien Tennon (8.07), who took fifth.
Duffield, a senior from Schertz, Texas, enters the NCAA Indoor Championships ranked No. 1 nationally in the high jump and as the Big 12 champion in the event. Duffield has broken his own school record twice this season, once on opening weekend when he jumped 7-4¼ (2.24m), and then again when he cleared a collegiate-leading 7-5¾ (2.28m) on his first attempt to win at the Texas A&M Quad. Duffield leaped 7-3¼ (2.22m) to win his first Big 12 title. He has finished first, second or third in each meet this season.
White, a senior from Philadelphia, Pa., won the Big 12 championship in the 200 meters, and took third in the 60 meters there. Her 22.98 time in the 200 is the fourth fastest in the NCAA this year. She broke Tech school records in the 55m dash, 60m dash and 200m dash. The 22.98 she ran at the UNM Classic, which was adjusted for altitude to 23.05, was the No. 1 mark in the world at the time she achieved it. She also ran a leg on Tech's 21st-ranked 4 x 400m relay, which clocked a 3:36.42 at the Tyson Invitational.
Chris Caldwell, a mid-year transfer from Iowa Central CC, has burst onto the scene in such a short time for Texas Tech. He has finished first or second every time he has stepped on the track this season. He ran a 7.16 in the 55m hurdles to break Omo Osaghae's school record at the Red Raider Open. Caldwell's great season continued at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, where he ran a 7.76 to win the Big 12 title. he enters this weekend ranked No. 6 in the nation.
Bradley Adkins, a junior from Idalou, Texas, is currently ranked fifth in the nation in the high jump. He has gone step for step with Duffield for all of 2015, including beating Duffield at the Masked Rider Open, clearing a personal-best 2.25m/7-4.5 to win the event. Adkins, a first team All-American in 2014, earned All-Big 12 honors with a fifth-place finish at the conference meet.
Kole Weldon has been Mr. Consistency throughout his career at Tech, and that has not changed in 2015. The senior from Jacksboro, Texas, has won the shot put at five of the six meets at which he has thrown it, the only exception being the Big 12 Indoor Championships, where he placed third, earning All-Big 12 honors. He enters the meet ranked 15th in the event, but he was in a similar situation at the same venue in 2013, as he entered the championships ranked 16th in the shot put, but took home runner-up honors.
Keniel Grant accomplished one of the more impressive feats you will see in track & field. At the Arkansas Open, Grant leaped a monstrous distance of 7.86m/25-9.50 to win the event, and vault himself to No. 6 in the nation in the event. The amazing part is that Grant leaped just under a foot farther than his previous personal best. An inch or two PR is impressive, but a foot is unheard of. Grant also turned in a fifth-place finish at the Big 12 Indoor Championships.
Le'Tristan Pledger started the season with a bang, running a 7.60 in the 55m hurdles at the Texas Tech Open, winning the Big 12 Athlete of the Week award in the process. She went on to better that mark twice, breaking school and facility records in the process. She is peaking at the right time, running her best 60m hurdles time of the season at the Big 12 Indoor Championships, an 8.11 to place second. That time has her ranked seventh in the nation.
Shanice Stewart can do it all. She nearly qualified for three different events this weekend, but she will settle for the long jump and pentathlon. Her pentathlon score of 4,152 at the Masked Rider Open broke Tech school and facility records, and has her in Fayetteville. She earned All-Big 12 honors in the pentathlon (third place), long jump (third place) and 60 meter hurdles (seventh place). She also won the long jump at three different meets in 2015.
4 x 400 Meter Relay
There was some shuffling early in the season, as there usually is with relays, but it looks like the combination has been found. Three All-Big 12 performers find their home on this relay. Joseph Richards III, the Big 12 runner-up in the 400m, barely missed out on qualifying for the open 400m this weekend. He is joined by third-place Big 12 400m finisher Steven Champlin, Kyle Collins, who took All-Big 12 honors in the 600 yards, and C.J. Jones, who placed ninth in the 800m at the Big 12 Championships. This quartet placed third at the Big 12 Championships, and qualified for this NCAA Championships with a 3:07.00 at the Arkansas Open.
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
