April 18, 2007

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LUBBOCK, Texas - Following a week of a team split between the UTEP Invitational and Mt. SAC Relays, the Texas Tech track team will make one trip this week as it travels to Fort Worth for the TCU Invitational. The event will take place at the Lowden Track and Field Complex on Sat., April 21st. Texas Tech is scheduled to take a full squad of 57 Red Raiders, including Big 12 leaders Seth Harris, Marlon Odom, Brian Porter, Bryan Scott and Lindsey Walesheck.

The No. 12-ranked women's team will be traveling without No. 1 5000M and 10000M runner Sally Kipyego, but will be bringing No. 8 high jumper Lacy Wilson and No. 10 discus thrower D'Andra Carter. The Red Raider women will be looking to add to their already 15 regionally-qualified athletes.

The men's team, ranked 24th in the nation, is tentatively scheduled to take 35 members. No. 2 110M hurdler Marlon Odom, No. 7 400M hurdler Bryan Scott and the No. 12 4x400M relay team will all be in Fort Worth for the TCU Invitational. The men currently have 14 regional-bound athletes, including two in multiple events as Jansen Hyde and Marlon Odom have each qualified in the 110M and 400M hurdles.

Regional marks become increasingly important as the NCAA Midwest Regional is six weeks away, with three competitions remaining: TCU, Drake Relays/Stanford Invitational and the Big 12 Championships.

The 2006 TCU Invitational marked a successful meet for the Red Raiders as the team tallied 22 regional marks, 19 personal bests and one school record. Shawon Harris broke the then-110M hurdles record, with a run of 13.60, which remains as the fastest mark without wind aid. Zach Glavash, who is without a regional mark this season, found his first last year at the TCU Invitational. The then-junior qualified for the 800M with a run of 1:49.32.

Action at this year's TCU Invitational will begin with Friday's only event, the hammer throw. Tech redshirt freshman Ozie Okolie will be competing in the event beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday gets started with the discus at 10 a.m., while running events start at 12 p.m. and the women's 4x100M relay.

Tech, the only ranked team in the field, will be joined by Abilene Christian, Central Arkansas, Colorado men, Cowley College, North Texas, Oklahoma State women, SMU women, Sam Houston State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas A&M-Commerce, TCU and UTA.

Live results will be available for the event on www.gofrogs.com. A complete recap of Texas Tech results can be found on www.texastech.com following the meet's conclusion.

CONTINUING EXCELLENCE
As if setting all of the indoor distance school records was not enough, after one individual outdoor race sophomore Sally Kipyego stamped her name in the outdoor records books. She competed in the 5000M at the Mt. SAC Relays on Fri., April 13th and broke Leigh Daniel's eight year record by 43 seconds. Kipyego ran a time of 15:19.72, besting Daniel's mark of 16:02.42. Daniel went on that 1999 season to earn Tech's first individual title in the 10000M and All-America status in the 5000M.

During the indoor season, Kipyego was involved in six school records being broken. Individually the Marakwet, Kenya, native set four records, including twice setting the 5000M. She set new Tech marks in the mile (4:38.18), 3000M (8:56.72) and 5000M (15:39.51 and 15:27.42). She was also a member of the women's distance medley relay that twice reset the record, first with a time of 11:19.58 and finally with 11:18.07.

Kipyego, who has the week off from the TCU Invitational, has earned a regionally-qualifying mark for the 5000M this outdoor. She will be looking for an automatic mark in the 10000M at the Stanford Invitational next week.

THREE OUT OF FOUR
During the four weeks of the outdoor season, three times a male Texas Tech athlete has been honored by the conference as the Big 12 Athlete of the Week. The latest addition to the honor's list is Marlon Odom, who earned the distinction on Tues., April 17.

Odom was awarded for his performance at the Mt. SAC Relays, where he recorded a mark of 13.57 to finish third. The time is the third-fastest in Tech school history, giving Odom all top three marks at Tech (each of them wind legal).

In the first naming of the outdoor season, Red Raider senior Bryan Scott earned the award after running a personal best time of 49.78, the nation's top mark at the time. He also assisted in earning the Tech 4x400M team a regional-qualifying mark with a split of 45.9 to the team's finish of 3:07.60.

The week after Scott's honor, senior Kevin Chelimo was named the athlete of the week after running an NCAA automatic time of 28:21.29 in the men's 10000M. The mark reset the school record of 29:37.54 and broke his personal best time of 29:39.30. The time was the then-second best in the event and now sits as the third-fastest in the country.

LAST VISIT TO TCU
A year ago, the Red Raiders made the same trip to the TCU Invitational and walked away with 22 regional marks, 19 personal bests and one school record. Tech members captured seven titles at the event, four men and three women.

On the men's side, Shawon Harris captured the 110M hurdle title in school-record time with a run of 13.60. The time was one of Harris' seven regionally-qualifying marks in the event. The Abilene, Texas, product went on to finish fourth in the conference. Zach Glavash titled the 800M after defeating 2006 NCAA Indoor 800M champion Jackson Langat of TCU. He ran a time of 1:49.32 to earn his first Midwest Regional qualification. Also in qualifying time, the men's 4x400M relay, consisting of Albert Booker, Michael Mathieu, Glavash and Andre Williams, took the title with a run of 3:06.03. The lone field event to be won by a Tech male was the long jump, as then-sophomore Bobby Evers took the crown with a jump of 24'-8.25". The mark was Evers' second regional distance of the season.

Two current female Tech members won their respective events at last year's TCU Invite. Then-junior Lacy Wilson championed the women's high jump after clearing 6'-0", marking her third qualification of the year. Then-freshman D'Andra Carter, who set the school record last year, threw for 164'-10" in the discus. It was her fifth regional mark of her young career. Former Red Raider Althea Chambers titled the 800M with a time of 2:08.88, the first regional mark for the eventual Big 12 champion.

LAST WEEK'S FIRST-TIMERS
Two Texas Tech male student-athletes hit the regional mark at the UTEP Invitational for the first time this season, including a career first for freshman Justin Turner. Turner, a native of Levelland, Texas, met the mark in the high jump after clearing a height of 6'-10.75". The freshman finished the event in fifth place with his personal best clearance.

Also regionally qualifying for the first time this season was senior Chris Ashcraft in the men's pole vault. The Albuquerque, New Mexico, product redshirted last outdoor season but participated in the previous two seasons' regional meets. At UTEP, Ashcraft finished with a height of 16'-6.75" to place seventh.

THREE SPRINTERS ADDED
The Texas Tech track team will have three new faces in addition to the 11 member fall class: sprinters Lamont Adams, Skye Green and Bill Lawhorn on Friday.

Adams is a standout 400M sprinter for the McNeil High track squad in Round Rock, Texas. His personal best in the event is a 47.49 from the AAU National Junior Olympic Games in Norfolk, Va., in 2006. He finished the 2006 high school season as a junior with a 47.78 to rank sixth best in the state of Texas.

Green will join the Red Raiders from Sweetwater High in Sweetwater, Texas, two hours southeast of the Lubbock area. The 100M specialist finished with a personal best time of 10.44 in 2006 to rank third in the state. Green finished second at the Great Southwest Classic in Albuquerque, N.M., in 2006 after clocking a time of 10.51.

Lawhorn comes to Tech from Giddings High in Giddings, Texas. He most recently ran a time of 10.63 in the 100M to finish first in the preliminary heat at the Texas Relays. Lawhorn has also clocked a time of 47.65 in the 400M, which ranks second in the state this year.