The Texas Tech track and field team opened its season last week with a primarily small program at Stan Scott Memorial. Competition will be fierce for the Red Raiders this weekend at the Corky Classic. All 10 schools will participate from power conferences.
Kentucky, LSU, Miami and Ohio State will join six Big 12 programs in the two-day competition at the Sports Performance Center. LSU's leading athletes include Sean “Squirrel” Burrell, a two-time NCAA champion in the outdoor 400-meter hurdles;
“It's very important to play against the best teams,” Tech coach Wes Kitley said this week. …You can really feel, “Oh, I can run with those people'' and “I can beat those people.''
“I think the more you run, the more confident you get. Even if you're not feeling great, you notice it right away and think, 'Wow, I've got work to do.' So it's really important to compete against good people early on. I think that’s a good thing.”
The competition begins Friday at 5 p.m. with a light schedule of field events, followed by finals in the weight throw, high jump and men's pole vault. The remaining competition is scheduled for Saturday, with field events scheduled from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and running events from 10:40 a.m. to 4:35 p.m.
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In addition to Texas Tech, other Big 12 teams entered include Baylor, Central Florida, Kansas State, Oklahoma and TCU.
“We have nine really good Division I teams this weekend,” Kitley said. “It's going to be great.”
Tech will host just three regular season games during the indoor season, which is definitely the fewest in the seven seasons since the Sports Performance Center opened in January 2018. This is primarily due to the ongoing football facility construction project in the adjacent area.
Texas Tech rookie Alyssa Colbert earns Big 12 recognition
Technical sprinter Alyssa Colbert made her debut last week and ran a winning time of 7.19 seconds in the 60-meter dash and was named Big 12 Female Track and Field Athlete of the Week. She transferred from Northern Arizona to Tech University and won the Big She Conference in the Sky Conference six times.
Colbert broke his personal record in consecutive rounds last week. She said her training has made her good times promising.
“We all knew it was coming,” she said. “A lot of work has gone into this, and it’s really exciting to see it come to life on paper.”
Among the Tech athletes scheduled to start this week is Caleb Dean, who won three Big 12 titles in hurdles in the 2023 season, finished second in the NCAA indoor 60 hurdles and finished second in the U.S. Tennis Association 400. He finished fourth in the hurdles. NCAA outdoor. Dean competed in the NCAA outdoor competition with a broken leg, but Kitley said it wasn't discovered until after he got home and underwent an X-ray.
Pro stars liven up the game
Apart from the university teams, another attraction on Saturday is the presence of top professionals and star players after graduating from university. This group of female participants includes Gabby Thomas, Devin Charlton, Christina Clemons, Aleisha Johnson, Masai Russell, Tamara Clark, Rinna Irby-Jackson, Ashley Spencer, Cambrea Sturgis, and Ruth Usoro. , including Anikka Newell.
Johnson and Usoro are former Texas Tech star athletes, with Usoro the 2021 NCAA champion in indoor and outdoor triple jump. Johnson won his first national title in the 60 meter hurdles last year.
Thomas is a two-time U.S. champion and Olympic 200-meter bronze medalist. Clemons and Charlton are former world championship silver medalists in the 60-meter hurdles, and Russell set a college record in that event at the Red Raider Open last January.
Clark was a member of the U.S. women's sprint relay that won gold at last year's world championships, and Irbie Jackson ran in the semifinals of the gold medal-winning 1,600-meter relay at the Tokyo Olympics. Spencer was a silver medalist in the 400m at the 2016 World Indoor Championships and a bronze medalist in the 400m hurdles at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Sturgis won the 100 and 200 meters at the 2021 NCAA Outdoor Championships.
Invited athletes in the men's 60 meters include Ronnie Baker, a Tokyo Olympian who ran collegiately at TCU, and Karim Bartley, who ran at Tech University.
