Red Raiders Land In USTFCCCA Outdoor Preseason Top 10
March 24, 2015 | Track and Field
Trevor Mackey and the Red raiders begin the outdoor season at No. 10, according to the preseason USTFCCCA rankings.
NEW ORLEANS, La. -- The Texas Tech men's and women's track & field teams will begin the 2015 outdoor season ranked No. 10, and No. 13, respectively, according to the U.S Track & Field And Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) preseason rankings.
This is the sixth-straight outdoor season in which both teams will begin the slate with a top-15 ranking.
On the men's side, the Red Raiders are coming off a fifth-place indoor team finish, highlighted by high jumpers JaCorian Duffield and Bradley Adkins going 1-2 in the high jump, Chris Caldwell placing second in the 60m hurdles, Kole Weldon taking sixth in the shot put and the 4 x 400m relay placing seventh.
Tech began the defense of its 2014 Big 12 outdoor title with a bang, winning the UTSA Challenge by 53 points over second-place Kentucky and 92 over third-place Texas. The Red Raiders were led by Chris Caldwell, who won the 110m hurdles behind an NCAA-best time of 13.60, and won the 100m dash, clocking a 10.51. In both races Caldwell defeated fields that included former NCAA Champion Andrew Riley. Caldwell was also part of the 4 x 100 meter relay, which ran a 40.69 to win the event.
On the women's side, Tech brings indoor All-Americans Cierra White and Le'Tristan Pledger into the outdoor fold, as well as outdoor javelin All-American Hannah Carson, who also had a great showing in San Antonio.
Carson dominated the field in the javelin at the UTSA Challenge. Her best throw of 54.84m/179-11, the top mark in the NCAA, won the event by more than 15 meters, but each of her five legal throws would have won by at least 10 meters. If all five of her throws could be counted toward national event rankings, they would rank No. 1, 2, 5, 6 and 9 nationally, meaning she would own more than half of the NCAA's top nine javelin marks.
The Red Raiders continue the 2015 outdoor campaign this weekend, March 26-28, with the 88th-annual Texas Relays, in Austin, Texas.
Players Mentioned
