Texas Tech Concludes 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships

Saturday, March 12

Birmingham, Ala.

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Texas Tech Athletics

NCAA Indoor Championships

Texas Tech Concludes 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships

March 12, 2016 | Track and Field

March 12, 2016

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Texas Tech track & field wrapped up the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships on Saturday, March 12, at the Birmingham Crossplex.

Running in heat two of a loaded 4x400-meter relay field, the quartet of Steven Champlin, Joseph Richards III, C.J. Jones and Kyle Collins won their section, but finished ninth overall with a time of 3:07.17.

The men's 4x400 relay team will be ninth overall after posting the 9th best time in school history at 3:07.17

-- TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) March 13, 2016

Champlin led off the event and handed the baton to Richards in second among the four squads in the heat. Richards put together the fastest second leg in the section to make it an easy transition to first-place when Jones received the stick. Jones took over the lead, running a 46.46 leg and handed the baton to Collins, who flew around the track with the fastest split at 45.91 to seal the section two win.

Their time of 3:07.17 is the ninth-fastest time in school history. Earlier this year at the Tyson Invitational, they ran the No. 2 time in school history, clocking in at 3:04.98.

Also competing on Saturday was Viershanie Latham in the women's triple jump. Latham's first leap of the day would be her best, going for a distance of 12.57m/41-3. Her third jump would be just a little off from her beginning mark, as she hit the sand at 12.48m/40-11.75. Latham's numbers earned her 15th overall.

She was the first Red Raider in program history to compete at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the event and third among both NCAA Indoors and Outdoors.

Latham had arguably the best indoor season ever by a Red Raider in the women's triple jump. She broke the school record in three-straight meets during the middle of the schedule and captured the program's first women's indoor Big 12 title in the event.

Texas Tech fielded competitors in a plethora of events at the 2016 NCAA Indoor Championships. Trey Culver captured Tech's second consecutive NCAA men's high jump title after being the only competitor to clear 2.23m/7-3.75 on Friday night. That mark tied the eighth-best jump in school history and made Texas Tech the first school in NCAA Indoor Championships history to win back-to-back men's high jump titles with different athletes.

The men's team finished with 10 points after Culver's win, giving them a 20th-place team finish.

Also on Friday, Kyle Collins became the first Red Raider since Gil Roberts in 2011 to compete at the Indoor Championships in the 400 meters, clocking in with a time of 46.90 in the prelims. Chris Caldwell rounded out the first day's competitors by posting a time of 7.87 in the 60-meter hurdle prelims. Both finished 13th in their respective events.

The Red Raiders will now turn their focus toward the outdoor slate of the 2016 schedule, with the first meet next weekend in Fort Worth at the TCU Invitational on March 17-18.