Tech Primed for NCAA Indoor Championships

Friday, March 13

Albuquerque, N.M.

12:15 P.M.

Texas Tech Athletics

NCAA Indoor Championships

Tech Primed for NCAA Indoor Championships

March 10, 2020 | Track and Field

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Red Raiders ready for Nationals in Albuquerque.

By: Jeremy O'Brien

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech track and field is primed for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which will run March 13-14 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Tech's men's group qualified nine athletes in 11 events – the second in the nation behind Oregon's 12. The Red Raiders, who finished tied for fifth at last year's meet, will be spread across seven events.

The Red Raiders will have three preliminary competitors in the 200m: Karayme Bartley, Ashton O'Conner and Jacolby Shelton. Bartley will be Tech's top seed in the race, entering with a time of 20.68 (converted from 20.61 for altitude). Shelton will double in his first national meet running as an individual, also qualifying in the 60m.

Tech will be led by Takieddine Hedeilli in the 800m, who won the Big 12 title in the 1000m and mile. Sven Cepus hopped into the top-16 of the half-mile as well, with a 1:49.04 set in January. The national meet will mark Cepus' second 800m title race in his first two years as a Red Raider.

Four from the men's group will compete in field events, including both of the Red Raiders responsible for breaking school records this season. Brandon Bray will enter as the sixth seed after clearing 18'-5.25" (5.62m) at the Matador Qualifier on Feb. 21. The clearance made Bray the program record-holder, downing Brit Pursley's 27-year old mark and making him the program leader in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault. The other record holder competing will be Gabe Oladipo in the weight throw. In his first season as a Red Raider, Oladipo has marked five program top-10 distances in the event.

Jumps will be led by senior Justin Hall. The Big 12 runner-up currently ranks fourth in the nation in the long jump after jumping over eight meters indoors for the first time in his career. Hall, whose top mark of 26'-5" (8.05m) was the third farthest in school history, will seek his first national title. He will be joined by Jequan Hogan, who at 16^th in the nation has successfully qualified for his first national meet.

Two-time Big 12 Champion Ruth Usoro will lead the women's team, qualifying in both horizontal jumps. Usoro, the school record-holder in the long and triple jump, is Tech's lone top-five qualifier in two events. She will enter her first national meet at the Division I level ranked third in the long and fourth in the triple.

For the first time in school history, Tech has qualified two in the women's pole vault. Chinne Okoronkwo, an All-American last season in the event, will return as the 13^th-ranked vaulter in the field. Okoronkwo successfully defended her Big 12 Championship in the indoor pole vault last week, winning her third-straight overall title with a clearance of 14'-3.25" (4.35m). The mark was two inches off the school record and ranked second in program history. Chloe Wall has qualified for her first national meet, and she will do so also with a program top-five mark. Wall's came at the nationals facility a month ago, where she cleared a career-best 14'-2.75" (4.33m) for the third-highest mark in school history.

Gabrielle McDonald will be the lone Tech female on the track. The junior transfer will run the 60m hurdles two weeks after winning a Big 12 title in the event in Ames. McDonald, another school record-holder, ran 8.04 for the win. Her record came at the Corky Classic in her Red Raider debut, where she ran 8.02.

The meet as a whole will be kicked off for Tech by All-American pentathlete Kaylee Hinton, who will compete in her first NCAA Indoor Championship meet and first national meet since 2018 after missing last season due to injury. Hinton's comeback redshirt senior season has been strong, thus far resulting in a Big 12 runner-up performance with a Tech championship record 4,105 points.

The 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships will begin Friday at 11:15 a.m. with Hinton's pentathlon. Live results will be available here. The meet will be streamed on ESPN3 beginning at 6:15 p.m. CT on Friday and 5 p.m. CT on Saturday.