Texas Tech University Athletics
Texas Tech Men Jump to No. 7 in USTFCCCA Poll
February 15, 2016 | Track and Field
Steven Champlin and the Red Raiders have their highest indoor ranking since the end of the 2015 season.
Feb. 15, 2016
LUBBOCK, Texas -- The Texas Tech men's track & field team made a big move to No. 7 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) computer rankings.
Boom! Big weekend for the men's team puts them at No. 7 in the @USTFCCCA rankings! https://t.co/LMArOJSNQm #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/VsukD4R5E9
- TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) February 15, 2016
Last weekend was a big weekend for Texas Tech. Bradley Adkins claimed the top spot in the NCAA after earning a first-place finish in the men's high jump. The Idalou, Texas, native matched his indoor PR with a clearance of 2.29m/7-6 on Saturday in Fayetteville. The mark also tied the school record he helped set with JaCorian Duffield at the same venue on March 14, 2015, at the NCAA Indoor Championships, only needing one attempt to clear the bar this time.
After watching Adkins clear the bar to take over the NCAA lead in the event, the men's 4x400-meter relay team then took center-stage less than a minute later, blazing around the track to win their heat of the invitational section behind a time of 3:04.98. The quartet of Steven Champlin, Joseph Richards III, C.J. Jones and Kyle Collins led wire-to-wire, leading them to the second-fastest time in school history, 0.23 seconds from the school record, and the third-best mark in the country this season. That same quartet had already posted the 10th-best time in school history in the second week of competition this season at 3:07.40.
The group of four who made up that squad have had tremendous success in their individual events as well in 2016. Richards (46.39), Collins (46.43) and Champlin (46.88) have all recorded marks in the open 400 meters under 47 seconds this season, Champlin running his on Friday in Fayetteville. Richards also posted a time of 46.49 to finish fourth in the 400-meter dash invitational this weekend, putting him at seventh in the NCAA this season, while Collins ranks ninth.
Two school records, a NCAA-leading mark, a No. 2 time: today was a good day - https://t.co/ogMi3SKSFT #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/UsCJUkt3YY
-- TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) February 14, 2016
In Nashville, Evans Tuitoek and Miguel Bautista went 1-2 among collegiate athletes in the men's 5000 meters. Tuitoek tallied a time of 14:31.31, while Bautista checked in at 14:38.01.
Those times coming on the same type of track (300-meter oversized track) that they'll compete on in two weeks on Feb. 26-27, at the Big 12 Indoor Championships in Ames, Iowa.
Players Mentioned
