Feb. 19, 1998

Houston Indoor Invitational Saturday
A full team will return to action this weekend with a trip to the University of Houston for the Houston Indoor Invitational, held at the Yeoman Fieldhouse.

The meet will begin at 9 a.m. with the field events and noon with the running events. It will be the Red Raider's final event before the Big 12 Indoor Track and Field Championships, February 27-28 in Ames, Iowa. Scheduled to compete are teams from Houston, Abilene Christian, TSU, Jackson State, North Texas, Southern University, Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas Tech.

Red Raider rewind
Several of Texas Tech's distance runners added another meet to the indoor schedule on Saturday as they competed in the Cannon IV Classic in Indianapolis, Indiana. The meet, hosted by Butler University, featured some of the nation's top collegiate athletes. For Texas Tech, it was a day of season best performances.

On the men's side, junior Michael Njenga recorded an NCAA provisional qualifying mark in the 5,000 meters. He posted a time of 14:11.53 in his first running of the event this season for 15th place. Njenga also competed in the 3,000, placing 36th in 8:32.34. Running along side him in the 3,000 was sophomore David Leigh with a time of 9:09.01, his best time in the event this season.

All five women who competed at the meet posted season best marks as well. Evette Turner finished 15th in the mile with a time of 4:53.61, just shy of a provisional mark. Close behind was Dawn Charlier with a time of 4:58.30 for 24th place in her first mile run of the season. In the 3,000, Lori Knowles crossed the line with a time of 10:20.35 and Kristen Koppes posted 10:28.60 in the event to set new season bests. Additionally, sophomore Leigh Daniel finished 16th in the 5,000 in 17:21.6, with Tara Hangge in 28th in 18:10.9.

Countdown to conference
The last weekend in February marks the second Big 12 Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships. This year's meet will be hosted by Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. Last year, Nebraska's men's and women's squads claimed the inaugural crowns. Texas Tech claimed an individual medal from Josephus Howard in the 200 meters, and saw second place performances from Desmond Johnson in the 400 and Amber Affeldt in the women's 600 yards.