Nesmith, Relays Highlight Day Three At Texas Relays

Friday, April 1

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Nesmith, Relays Highlight Day Three At Texas Relays

April 01, 2016 | Track and Field

Amani made it back-to-back weeks of first-place finishes in the women's long jump on Friday.

April 1, 2016

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AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Tech track & field picked up another event win and advanced two relay teams to tomorrow's final on Friday, April 1, at Mike A. Myers Stadium.

Bethel, Hudson, McBride & Collins advance to the 4x100 final after a strong close = 4th-best time at 40.39! #WreckEm https://t.co/dYwYQJkqfh

-- TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) April 1, 2016

Amani Nesmith recorded her second-straight week with a long jump win and personal-best in the event with her performance on Friday. Sitting in fourth after the first round, Nesmith moved into the lead with a jump of 5.84m/19-2, but her last attempt would be her best. Still leading going into the final jump, Nesmith leapt to 6.08m/19-11.5 to seal the victory, making it back-to-back weeks to put up a new PR.

Her mark is tied for the sixth-best wind-aided mark in school history and ranks ninth on the NCAA West region list coming into today.

In her first triple jump of the outdoor season, Viershanie Latham earned a second-place finish to pick up where she left off during her All-American indoor season. Her first jump of the day would be her best, hitting the sand at a distance of 12.99m/42-7.5 with just a slight tailwind at +2.3.

It's the fifth-best wind-aided mark in school history and is tied for the third in the NCAA this season.

Gionna Jackson finished seventh in the field behind a mark of 12.74m/41-9.75. Her legal wind (+1.8) put her at No. 10 at Texas Tech all-time in the women's triple jump.

The men's 4x100 relay qualified for Saturday's final after winning the first section behind a time of 40.39. The quartet of Nigel Bethel, Andrew Hudson, Kareem McBride and Kyle Collins put together the fourth-best time overall among the six sections. The team was in second coming into the last handoff, but Collins powered his way to pass the leader at the finish line to take the heat.

Saturday's final is slated for 1:30 p.m.

Hudson and Collins also ran the first two legs of the men's sprint medley relay, which were the 200-meter dash portions of the event. Collins would pass the baton to Steven Champlin, who maintained a third-place standing during the 400-meter dash leg of the race, before giving it to C.J. Jones. Running the anchor leg, the 800 meters, Jones quickly moved into second and battled the leader throughout the two laps, but would finish runner-up by only 0.24 at 3:17.86.

The women's 4x400 relay team finishes fifth overall to advance to the final! pic.twitter.com/6kcWzxGsQ5

-- TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) April 1, 2016

Also earning a berth into Saturday's final was the women's 4x400 relay team, who won their heat and finished fifth overall at 3:46.65. Taylor Rockwell led off the race and ran a strong opening leg before handing it off to Sara Limp. She took over the lead early, but was neck-and-neck with the second-place team before Adria Parker got the stick and began to put some cushion between her and the rest of the field. Maygen Smith ran the anchor leg and crossed the finish line with a seasons-best mark for the Red Raiders in the event.

The group of four will compete at 4:40 p.m. on Saturday in the final.

For the second time this outdoor season, Haley Cook has registered a new personal-best in the women's pole vault. Cook began the day with a clearance of 3.91m/12-10 on her first attempt, before a second weather delay forced an hour and a half break from competition. After the delay, Cook picked up where she left off, clearing the next two heights at 4.06m/13-3.75 and 4.16m/13-7.75, the latter was a half an inch better than her previous best set at the TCU Invitational on March 18. The mark would earn her fourth overall in the event.

Also picking up a fourth-place finish was Hannah Carson in the javelin (sec. A). Carson improved with each of her first three throws, then topped off with a mark of 51.23m/168-1 on her fifth attempt.

The men's distance medley relay team posted a fourth-place finish to end the night's collegiate events on the track. Nick Rivera led off the race and held firm in second until making a push with 250 meters to go in his leg of the race, taking the lead. From there, Caleb Richmond ran the 400 meters, but fell behind to third; however, Vincent Crisp, the 800-meter run leg, took back over the lead and gave the stick to Benard Keter to run the final 1600 meters of the race. Keter positioned himself just behind the leader for most of the anchor leg but would fall behind to fourth on the final lap to finish with a time of 9:54.09.

The Red Raiders will conclude the Texas Relays on Saturday, April 2, from Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin.