Red Raiders To Open Outdoor Campaign In San Antonio
March 19, 2015 | Track and Field
Indoor NCAA high jump champion JaCorian Duffield and the Red Raiders begin the 2015 outdoor season this weekend in San Antonio.
LUBBOCK, Texas -- The Texas Tech track & field teams will begin the 2015 outdoor season in San Antonio, Texas, with the UTSA Invitational, March 20-21, at the Park West Athletics Complex.
The Red Raiders will begin competition on Friday at noon with combined events and the men's and women's hammer throw. On Saturday, field events begin at 11 a.m. and running events get started at 11:55 a.m.
"I am excited about starting the outdoor season" Texas Tech head coach Wes Kittley said. "We get to look at different events that we didn't have during the indoor season, and we also get an opportunity to have the majority of our team together again. It will be a good meet against five or six teams, which gives us a chance to compete right away. We're ready to get started."
The Texas Tech men are coming off a Big 12 team outdoor championship in 2014, the second such title in program history. The Red Raiders return the high point scorer from that meet, Kole Weldon, who is fresh off an indoor All-American performance.
The Red Raiders also return JaCorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins, who just one week ago, became the first teammates since 1974 to go 1-2 in the NCAA indoor high jump final.
The Lady Raiders return some firepower of their own for the 2015 outdoor season. Cierra White and Le'Tristan Pledger are returning first team All-Americans from the 2014 season, and won indoor first team All-American honors this weekend in Fayetteville, Ark. Shanice Stewart also brings her two indoor All-American honors (long jump & pentathlon) into the outdoor season.
Out of the Blocks
? Texas Tech is looking to become just the third team in Big 12 history to repeat as outdoor conference champions, following up on their historic 2014 title in Lubbock.
? Texas Tech made history at the NCAA Indoor Championships, scoring a program-high 31 points, and tying for its highest men's finish in program history (fifth). On the women's side, the Lady Raiders had their highest finish (12th) and most team points (15), since 2010.
? JaCorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins became the first teammates to finish first and second at the NCAA indoor men's high jump final, since Oregon State accomplished the feat in 1974. They both set personal bests and school records in the process, clearing 2.29m/7-6.0
? Tech combined to take home four USTFCCCA regional postseason awards two weeks ago. 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.
Who's Got Next?
Texas Tech track & field will travel to Austin, Texas, next weekend for the Texas Relays, which will be held March 25-28, and broadcasted on the Longhorn Network.
Sights Set On Austin
The outdoor qualifying process differs a little bit from the one used for the indoor season. The top 48 athletes and top 24 relays in each event in the west region will advance to the NCAA West Preliminary Round, in Austin, Texas, May 28-30. From there, the top 12 athletes in each event from each region will advance to the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships, in Eugene, Ore.
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 school records have been broken 15 times in 2015.
Last Year At The UTSA Invitational
The Lady Raider track and field team won the UTSA Texas Challenge Invitational Saturday and the Red Raiders finished second as the Texas Tech track and field program opened its outdoor season this weekend.
The Lady Raiders won the women's meet with 197.5 points while the Red Raiders came in second in the men's standings with 165 points.
The Lady Raiders' winning effort was capped off with a victorious effort in the 4x400 relay as the squad, comprised of Montenae Speight, Amoy Blake, Tiffany Tarver and Christen Rivers finished a full three seconds ahead of the field with a time of 3:41.09.The Red Raider 4x400 relay, comprised of Kyle Collins, Dwayne Extol, Tommy Brinn and Alex Foster, finished second in the men's race with a time of 3:09.89.
The Red Raiders and Lady Raiders also turned in impressive early performances in the 1,500-meter run as Nick Rivera and Sharlene Nickle opened their outdoor campaign with career-best times. Nickle finished second in the women's race clocking a 4:30.57, before Rivera also finished second in the men's section in 3:49.64. The performance bested Nickle's previous personal-best time by six seconds and marked the best by a Lady Raider in the event since 2012.
Red Raider Bradley Adkins carried momentum from his indoor All-American campaign to Saturday's events as he took home a first place finish in the men's high jump. Adkins cleared a new outdoor career-best of 2.18-meters (7'-1.75"). He was followed by teammate JaCorian Duffield in second who cleared 2.13-meters (6'-11.75").
Last Time Out
They've talked about it and dreamed about it all season, and on Saturday it became a reality.
JaCorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins took first and second place in the men's high jump final at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, in Fayetteville, Ark.
The Red Raider duo becomes the first pair of teammates to go 1-2 at the NCAA Championships in the high jump since 1974, when Oregon State's Mike Fleer and Tom Woods accomplished the feat. Those 18 team points aided the Red Raiders to a fifth-place finish, with 31 points, their highest point total in program history for an NCAA Indoor meet. The fifth-place finish ties for Tech's highest at NCAA Indoors. They reached fifth place in 2013 as well.
Less than 30 minutes later, Chris Caldwell continued his breakout season for the Red Raiders with a second-place finish in the men's 60m hurdles (7.69). His first team All-American performance and valuable eight team points vaulted Texas Tech into third place at the time, with 26 team points.
Kole Weldon contributed to the scoring with a toss of 19.21m/63-0.25 in the shot put, to place sixth, marking the second time in three years he has taken home first team All-American honors in the indoor shot put. In the final event of the evening, the men's 4 x 400 meter relay, the Red Raider quartet of Steven Champlin, Joseph Richards III, Kyle Collins and C.J. Jones clocked a 3:07.52 to place seventh, and earn first team All-American honors, while earning two team points.
On the women's side, Le'Tristan Pledger took home first team All-American honors with a fourth-place finish in the 60 meter hurdles, clocking an 8.17. Cierra White followed that up in the 200 meter dash, with a school record-breaking 22.90 to earn her own fourth-place finish. Cierra White broke the women's 200m dash school record four times in 2015.
Those performances coupled with Shanice Stewart's fourth-place long jump finish on Friday, gave Tech 15 points on the women's side, good enough for 12th. Stewart placed 12th in the pentathlon earlier in the day, accumulating a total of 4,069. This is the highest finish for the Lady Raiders since a ninth-place finish in 2010, where they scored 21 points.
Players Mentioned
