Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Eastbound For Wes Kittley Invitational
April 08, 2016 | Track and Field
April 8, 2016
LUBBOCK, Texas -- Texas Tech track & field takes a short trip east to Abilene for the third-annual Wes Kittley Invitational on Saturday, April 9, at Elmer Gray Stadium.
"I'm really humbled and honored," head coach Wes Kittley said. "We have a reunion of all of the kids I coached on Friday night. That's probably the most special thing for me to see where they are today and see who they are as people. It makes me feel old, but we had a great run there. We had 29 national championships and I tell people all the time, `That's what got me this job at Texas Tech.' So, I'm really fortunate that those people still think something of me there."
Trey Culver.
New PR - 2.26m/7-5
T-5th all-time at #TexasTech
NCAA D-I Leader#WreckEmhttps://t.co/SCLxY8AKzo-- TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) April 2, 2016
Teams competing in Saturday's meet along with host Abilene Christian include: Colorado State, Sam Houston State, Central Oklahoma, Minnesota State-Moorhead, South Plains College and Western Texas College.
The Red Raiders will also send Hannah Carson to Tempe, Arizona, to compete in the discus and javelin competitions at the Sun Angel Open on Saturday.
Field events will kick off action at the Wes Kittley Invitational, with the hammer, javelin, long jump and pole vault all starting at 11 a.m. Running events will follow about an hour later at 12:20 p.m. with the 3000-meter steeplechase.
The men's team jumped to No. 12 in this week's U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) computer rankings. The Red Raiders moved up six spots from their debut position two weeks ago.
The Red Raiders put on a show last weekend at the Texas Relays in Austin. Trey Culver, the 2016 NCAA Indoor high jump champion, battled the five-time NCAA D-II champion, with both men clearing 2.26m/7-5 to take the NCAA lead in their respective divisions. Culver double PR'd at the event, going over his indoor personal-best at 2.23m/7-3.75 before his clearance at 2.26m/7-5. Tech also picked up three event wins at the meet, with all three competitors recording PR's to do so. Evans Tuitoek clocked in at 3:49.76 to win section A of the men's 1500 meters. Natalie Baker tossed the javelin to a mark of 48.70m/156-10 to claim section B of the event, while Amani Nesmith leapt to a wind-aided 6.08m/19-11.5 in section B of the long jump for the victory. The Red Raiders finished the weekend with 18 top-five finishes, 18 personal or season-bests and five all-time top 10 marks in the school's record books.
NOT ONE. NOT TWO. NOT THREE. NOT FOUR. NOT FIVE.
The Red Raiders have six student-athletes ranked inside the top 10 in the NCAA in their respective events. At the top of the list is the 2016 NCAA Indoor Champion in the men's high jump, Trey Culver. At the Texas Relays, Culver set another personal-best, marking three-straight meets he's accomplished the feat, clearing 2.26m/7-5 to take the NCAA lead in the event. Viershanie Latham opened up her outdoor triple jump campaign in Austin by hitting the sand with the seventh-best mark in the country this season at 12.99m/42-7.5. Brandon Bray also cracked the top 10 at the Texas Relays, sitting in a tie for ninth in the men's pole vault after a clearance of 5.31m/17-5, matching his indoor-collegiate best. Charles Brown ranks sixth in the NCAA in 2016 after leaping to distance of 7.83m/25-8.25 in the long jump at the Texas Tech Open on March 24. It was also a personal-best and was the ninth-best jump in school history. Also at that meet, JW Smith notched a PR in a thrilling 400-meter hurdles race, clocking in at 50.49 for the 10th-best time in the country this season. In the first meet of the season, Hannah Carson launched the javelin to the No. 7 spot in the NCAA this year at 54.77m/179-8.
The men's team jumped to No. 12 in this week's @USTFCCCA rankings! https://t.co/vHQN3xz2WU #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/ajTRiikX6E
-- TTU Track & Field/XC (@TTU_TF_XC) April 4, 2016
By the end of the indoor season, the Red Raiders had 27 new top 10 all-time marks in their record books, including two school records. After three meets of outdoor competition, they've already collected nine more, including five last weekend at the Texas Relays. Natalie Thompson started out the meet in the heptathlon, posting the ninth-best total points (5228) in school history. Viershanie Latham's first triple jump competition of the outdoor season was a successful one, as she notched the fifth-best wind-aided mark at Texas Tech behind a distance of 12.99m/42-7.5. Competing in the same section of the event, Gionna Jackson got a wind-legal jump to go 12.74m/41-9.25, ranking 10th among marks with wind-readings at +2.0 m/s or lower. In the long jump, Amani Nesmith got a tailwind just above the allowable limit, putting her mark of 6.08m/19-11.5 in a tie for seventh on the wind-aided long jump all-time list at Texas Tech. Capping off the meet was Trey Culver in the men's high jump, who's clearance of 2.26m/7-5 tied for the No. 5 jump in school history.
INTO THE RANKINGS
The Texas Tech men's team jumped to No. 12 in the men's USTFCCCA outdoor computer rankings. It marked a six spot climb from their debut position in the poll two weeks ago. It was also the second-largest one week increase this season from week-to-week, just behind a seven-spot jump from No. 14 to No. 7 during the middle of the indoor season.
CHANGING THEIR STARS
Along with their 18 top-five finishes at the Texas Relays, the Red Raiders also recorded 14 personal-bests, nine coming from the women's team, which brings them to a total of 59 PR's set among the three outdoor meets this season. Jasmine Torres, Andi Morgan, Amani Nesmith, Blake Wood, Clark Blunt and Kirk Weldon have all posted personal-bests at each meet they've competed in during the outdoor season.
#JUMPSQUAD TAKING FLIGHT
The women's long jumpers have had a tremendous start to the 2016 outdoor season. In the NCAA West region, the Red Raiders have five ranked in the top 25 in the event, more than any other university. Among those five, three have recorded personal-bests, with Amani Nesmith's PR sitting as the wind-aided No. 7 mark in school history. Gionna Jackson leads the charge with a distance of 6.16m/20-2.5.
THRICE AS NICE
Freshman Sara Limp has come flying out of the blocks to lead the team this season in the women's 100, 200 and 400-meter dash events. At the TCU Invitational, Limp finished third in the 200 meters behind a slightly wind-aided mark of 23.73. She also finished ninth in the 100m at 11.80 in Fort Worth. At the Texas Tech Open, she topped the field in the 400 meters after clocking in at 53.99 and ran the second leg of the 4x100 relay to a time of 45.41, placing second. Her time in the 400m tops the conference this season and is 10th among NCAA West region competitors. At the Texas Relays, she ran the second leg of a strong 4x400-meter relay performance, which clocked in at 3:40.69 and finished fourth in the final.
ON THE DOCKET
After the Wes Kittley Invitational, the Texas Tech track & field teams return home to compete in front of the Lubbock faithful at the Red Raider Open on April 15-16. Friday's events will feature the heptathlon and decathlon, as well as the javelin and hammer throw contests. Friday's action will begin at 10 a.m. at the Terry & Linda Fuller Track & Field Complex, with the throws competitions held at the 4th street fields. On Saturday, the combined events will wrap up, with a 9 a.m. start time, followed by field events at noon and running slated for 3 p.m.
REGIONALS ARE COMING
With three weeks of competition in the books, the Red Raiders have 42 student-athletes and relays represented in the top 48 (individuals) and top 24 (relays) on the NCAA West Qualifying list, which is the qualifying standard for the regional meet. Twenty-four of the 42 come from the women's team, with the long jump taking the most with five. On the men's side, four of the 18 come from the high jump. The Red Raiders will open up in a few different events across the board this weekend and will have the opportunity to improve their standings as they head into the Wes Kittley Invitational on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
