March 9, 1999

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana - The Texas Tech women's track and field team concluded the 1999 indoor season by finishing 10th at the NCAA indoor national championships. With 10 points, the Red Raiders tied with West Virginia, Florida International and Georgia. It is the best ever showing at the meet for the women's program.

On the men's side, the 4x400 relay team finished 10th in their race. The team consisting of Desmond Johnson, Roham McDonald, Shameron Turner and Josephus Howard was hampered by a bad baton exchange during the race.

Johnson opened the race strong putting Texas Tech in the lead. McDonald continued to build on Johnson's lead in the second leg, but during the exchange with Turner the stick was dropped. The team lost the lead and finished fifth in their heat with a time of 3:15.23. Overall, they were 10th out of the 11 teams in the event.

"I am quite disappointed with what happened during the race," Director of Track and Field Greg Sholars said. "Desmond and Rohan had done a great job to put us ahead before the bad exchange. Tonight's race gives us a lot of momentum for the upcoming outdoor season. It shows that we can run with the best in the nationa in the 4X400 relay.